Centuries Song
by Scarlet song Cerulean trails
Summary: Blend of TP & OoT, little SS. Link fights to save his world from Twilight, but also to restore world order as an unknown evil tries to destroy or enslave the people of Hyrule and the rest of his world. Can he defeat the sinister plans in motion while forced to serve a mysterious, yet powerful Imp; or will he, and the rest of his world succumb to the powers of Twilight and Darkness?
1. 1 Entering Ordon

**Hi, everyone!**

 **I have always really loved the LoZ games, with Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess being my favorites. So I decided to take many of the things that I love about the Zelda games and splice them together, so I hope you like what I come up with! It starts out a bit slowly just like the games do so that you can warm up to it, but it won't stay like this for long! ;)**

 **Enjoy!**

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

 ** _I don't own Legend of Zelda or the pic, sadly._**

 **-X- time skip**

 _"Thoughts"_

 _...Dreams..._

* * *

Eyes opened slowly, and he was gazed up at an unfamiliar ceiling.

A dark ceiling with lower lighter-colored wooden beams running across the length it to form a simple star pattern. All he could see around him was lit and silhouetted by the low half-light of a dying fire that was somewhere off to his left. He blinked a few times, steadily becoming aware of the pounding between his ears and the muted pain of the many slash injuries to his body.

His arm and back muscles ached from the extra strain they had been put through, and his ankle hurt. He looked down his leg, and saw his ankle wrapped carefully and propped up on the other arm of the couch he lay on. His right arm moved slightly as his fingers brushed the worn cloth of the couch beneath him, eyes having gone back to staring up at the ceiling.

 _"Where...am I? What is this place, and...how did I get here?"_

His body felt very heavy, and the soft harmony being created by the fire, the frogs he could hear outside, and his own breathing had his eyelids slipping closed even though he knew he should be trying to think...

 _...Running hard through the dark forest, branches clawed at his face while the leaves tried blinding him. His legs and arms shaking with exertion, and the armor he wore seemed to get heavier with each thudding step. Tears slid down unchecked from his eyes, and the rough, sobbing breaths that tore from his chest and heart left his lungs on fire for air. The pain of the slashes he had on his body burned white-hot every time the part of him they had cut moved, but he couldn't stop running, not even to bind them. He was certain that those monsters would follow him after what he had done, so he would lead them away from-..._

A sudden soft explosion of crackling sparks and the sound of the fire log breaking caused him to start violently awake, eyes flying open accompanied by a soft gasp.

"So you're awake now, I see."

Came a kind sound male voice from over by the fireplace. He whipped his head around to look at the speaker and started sitting up, but then hissed at the pain that lanced up his neck and bounced around behind his now tightly closed eyes.

"Don't try moving yet. You really took a beating in the fight you were in, and then your fall off the cliff into the Goat's Field only made them worse."

The man said as he walked away from the fireplace and took a seat in a chair next to the couch. Eyes now open and ignoring the pain, he studied the man sitting next to him. The man had kind green eyes, short blonde hair that was held back by a light colored headband, and was wearing an interesting assortment of wrapped-around clothing.

He was also wearing a sword strapped to his back that was angled so he could pull it out in a moment's notice, which made the young observer grip the couch beneath himself nervously. It must mean that this man thought that he might need to use it.

 _"And I'm the only thing that could be a threat to him here_."

Looking back at the man's eyes apprehensively, he asked in a low voice.

"Where am I?"

"Ordon Village, which is at the edge of Faron Woods."

The man was studying his face closely, but for what he had no idea and made him even more nervous.

"What is your name?"

The man asked, suddenly cutting into his thoughts.

"Link...Sir. What is yours?"

"Rusl. Tell me, Link. What were you running from?"

Link opened his mouth to answer, then stopped because he couldn't remember. He frowned slightly as he tried remembering anything, but then he looked back at Rusl.

"I don't remember. I know that is not the answer you're looking for, but it _is_ the truth."

Rusl continued studying his face, then nodded slightly.

"Where are you from, Link?"

"I'm...not sure. I remember lots of large trees..."

He brought a hand up to run his fingers through his hair out of habit, but stopped at the feel of rough cloth bandages beneath his fingertips. He explored higher, finding his hair had not been cut as he had feared, but had simply been pushed up and out of the way of the bandages that were wrapped at his hairline. He blinked, then glanced at Rusl who was still watching him and lowered his hand from his head.

"I apologise, but I cannot remember anything other than lots of large trees."

Rusl nodded slightly again and stared at his face thoughtfully.

"Do you remember anything about yourself?"

"Well...I remembered my name.."

Link answered slowly, before turning his attention from Rusl and looking around the small family room he was in.

There was a strangely curvy chair near the other end of the couch and a well worn, but nice rug covering the floor between these chairs and couch. He recognised some of the things adorning the walls as farming and cooking tools as they hung near the door and the open firestove respectively. Even though it was somewhat blocked behind the back of the couch, he could see a round eating table with a few knitting things resting on its top and a toy horse hiding beneath in the shadows.

 _"Other people live here?"_

He started listening carefully, and after a few seconds could just make out the deep breathes of two other people in the house over the noises of the night and this room. He craned his head to look squarely behind the position it had just been resting in, looking at where a door was hidden behind a large and thickly woven tapestry. He saw Rusl react slightly in his peripheral vision, and relaxed his head back into its resting place on the arm of the couch to look at him.

"Is this your house?"

Rusl nodded slowly, a new expression on his face and he was not quite looking at his face anymore, but staring at a space next to his head.

 _"A village means that there are other houses around here, I think."_

Link shook his head lightly to try and clear the doubt from it, then looked at Rusl.

"Thank you for caring for my wounds, Rusl Sir."

Rusl blinked, his voice seeming to pull him out of whatever his thoughts had been and Rusl smiled at him.

"No need to thank me, Link. We weren't about to leave you out there injured and in the dark. I wish that you could give me some answers as to who you are and what was chasing you, but you probably hit your head while tumbling down that cliff. I bet that with a bit of rest and a good look at your things will help you remember everything, so don't worry. Here-"

Rusl reached down and picked up a bottle from the ground next to the chair's leg.

"-drink some of this and you'll find it easier to sleep, as I know from experience that it's hell trying to sleep the first night after a bad fight."

Taking the bottle gratefully, and a few sips of the bitter stuff quickly flowed down his throat before he handed it back to Rusl with a slightly trembling arm. Eyes closing, another question came to his exhausted mind and was out of his mouth before he could think better of it.

"Is that your family in the other room behind that tapestry?"

He heard Rusl pop a cork back into the bottle and get up from his chair. Rusl's answer seemed to come back very slowly, and he may have missed the last word of it as sleep claimed him.

"Indeed it is. I'm sure that you'll get to meet them soon as you wake..."

 **-X-**

"He must be a Hylian because I had to give him a double dose of the sleep herbs for them to work."

"Oh, but are you sure? I thought that they were like nobility and only lived in Hyrule, so why would the boy be out here all alone?"

Link slowly opened his eyes as the voices of Rusl and a kind-hearted woman drifted into his sleep, pulled him back to the land of the living. He heard a soft gasp to his right, and he turned his head to see a child sitting the chair next to the couch staring at him. The child had ear-length blonde hair, slightly frightened blue eyes, and was wearing similar style of clothing to what Rusl had. He smiled at the boy who after lowering his head, slowly looked up and smiled back shyly.

"What is your name?"

Link asked, still smiling at the boy as he carefully started maneuvering himself into a reclined position on the couch.

"I-I...Colin."

The little boy answered very softly, before lifting his head a bit higher to look Link more in the eye.

"I know that your name is Link."

"That it is, how did-"

"Oh! You're awake now, Link."

Rusl's said while walking over and scooping Colin up so that both could sit in the chair.

"How are you feel this morning?"

The woman asked he had heard before ask, slowly walking into his peripheral vision as she went to sit in the strange curvy chair that he had seen last night.

"Better, thank you."

He replied, turning his head to give her a polite smile. His eyes widened in shock as she turned to take her seat, now fully facing him. He stared at the bulging stomach of this otherwise fit and healthy woman for a few seconds, unable to say or do anything until he heard them all start laughing. The woman and Colin's voices were both quiet while Rusl's was far more carrying.

"So I take it that you've never seen a woman with child before, have you?"

Rusl asked between his chuckles, and Link blushed slightly as he now understood why they had been laughing.

"No, but I am glad that it there is nothing wrong, as was my first thought."

"Well, I guess that it is a bit strange looking the first time you see it, isn't it?"

The woman said with a smile.

"My name is Uli, and this boy is our son Colin."

"Who was supposed to let us know as soon as you woke up."

Rusl said, looking at Colin in mostly mock severity. Colin looked at his mother as he tried to find an answer or response to what his father said, but he didn't come up with anything so he looked back at his father with an embarrassed face.

"He was going to tell you, but I'm afraid that I started asking him some questions and distracted him."

Link said as soon as he saw the face that Colin was making, causing the three to look at him. Colin was very surprised at this transfer of responsibility, while Uli and Rusl just gave him pleased smiles.

"Is that so?"

Rusl asked looking back down at Colin, who nodded while still staring at Link.

"Are you hungry, Link? We already ate, but there's still some porridge left in the pot if you want it."

"I am quite hungry and gratefully accept your offer."

"Colin, would you please serve Link a bowl full of porridge? The pot is on the table, and there's a bowl for him next to it."

Colin climbed off his father's lap and nodded to his mother before hurrying passed the couch, out of Link's eyesight.

"Mayor Bo wants to speak with me and I promised to help fix the South-East fence the goats broke last night, so I'll be back in a while. See you later Colin, Link."

Rusl kissed his wife before walking out into the bright morning, and after the door was closed Link looked back at the chair to find Colin sitting in it with the bowl of Porridge. He handed it to Link, who thanked him and then started eating. When Colin didn't move or stop watching him, Link paused and smiled at Colin.

"Would you like to play a game with me when I'm done, Colin?"

"But...mama said that you can't get up."

"Well, we could play a game right here."

"Like what? I guess that we could play with my horses, but I only have two so it might not be very fun..."

"I'm sure that we could make it so, but perhaps we should try something else for now. Do you have any coloring sticks and something to draw on?"

Colin's face lit up and he jumped off the chair.

"They're in the bedroom, so I'll go get them. We can even use the small table in there to color on!"

As he ran to the bedroom, Uli smiled at him warmly and then looked at Link.

"You're very kind with him even though he is such a quiet boy. Thank you."

Link smiled back.

"It is nothing compared to what you all have done for me. I quite like your son, he is-"

Colin came running back into the room with some paper and wood to color on, and a fist full of charcoal sticks and colored chalk to draw with. He ran out again, only to return carrying a small table from within the bedroom.

"You're getting so strong, Colin."

His mother said as he set the table down next to the couch for them to lean on. Link helped him put everything on the table, then Colin looked at him questioningly.

"What should we draw?"

"Hmm. Why don't you draw your village for me so that I can start learning about it?"

"I'll try my best, but that may be hard because there's so much..."

"I'm sure that you can do it. You could use your drawings as the starting point, and then you can explain everything in them to me. Now, what should I draw for you?"

Colin looked around the room carefully, then pointed at his mother who was alternating between looking at her knitting and watching them.

"You should draw Mama!"

He turned his head to look at Link hesitantly, and saw his slight surprise at this.

"Unless...you think that would be too hard, you don't have to do it if you don't want too. I can pick something else for you...or you could pick something."

Link shook his head and waved a hand.

"No, no. I think that it is a fine choice, but I must warn you and your mother that I am not that skilled at drawing so it may turn out quite horribly."

* * *

 **I always answer my reviews, and please feel free to ask questions about the any of the story because I will answer them to the best of my ability.** **If you review I will send you a thank you if you have an account on this site, and I will also thank you by respond here so that way everyone is thanked for their reviews.**

Leave a review and I'll thank you!

Best wishes till next time!


	2. 2 Ordon Village and Home

**Hi, everyone!**

 **A big Thank You to** Tai-ku-ai **for being the first reviewer! (if that's even a word...) So I think that all the chapters of this story will be of varying lengths because of how I want the action divided up, so enjoy a chapter that is about twice as long as the first one! I normally write a lot of details in my stories but this tends to give them a bit of a slow pace, but in this story I'm trying to get a good balance between detail and pace, so let me know how you think I did in a review?**

 **Enjoy!**

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

 ** _I don't own Legend of Zelda or the pic, but I wish I did! ;)_**

 **-X- time skip**

 _"Thoughts"_

 _...Memories..._

* * *

It took Colin several days, and lots of drawing sessions to tell Link about what the village looked like. He also regaled him with many stories about the people who lived there, and these were always Link's favorite part of the day. During their drawing times Link drew Uli, Rusl, and Colin, all for the latter of course; and the little boy pronounced him the best "draw-er" he'd ever seen.

Uli agreed with her son as she loved Link's quite detailed sketch of her smiling down at her large round stomach, hands resting gently on the upper swell of it.

"Are my eyes really that big though?"

She asked Link as she studied the drawing.

"Not really, I just like drawing the eyes of people according to how open they are to the world. I think that you are a very loving mother and wife who is very kindhearted to everyone, so you have large, warm eyes."

Colin and Uli loved the pictures that he drew for them and delighted in showing Rusl all the pictures both boys had drawn when he got home those afternoons. After seeing the picture of his wife and hearing the reasons behind the slight changes to her appearance, his eyes had tears in them.

Rusl was gone every morning to do whatever work he promised to help with that day, and when he returned in the mid-afternoon, he tended to Link and helped his wife. Rusl never failed to express how impressed he was with how quickly Link was healing, and by the fifth day after meeting Rusl's family Link manage to walk almost normally on his daily trips from the couch and back.

"Well, you're healing very nicely Link. So much so, that I think you could go outside and take a quick look around the village if you want."

Rusl said as he finished tying the last of the needed bandages around Link.

"Really!?"

Colin breathed excitedly from where he sat at the round eating table.

"Certainly! I got a cane for him to use to help get back if he's really hurting, but I don't see the harm of letting him walk around some."

"I can show you around, if you want Link."

Colin said as he got up from the table and hurried over to the front door.

"Thank you, Colin. I am quite sure that I shall need it."

Both boys exited the house, and Uli smiled after them.

"He's such a nice boy."

"Yes, they both are."

Rusl said after sampling the stew cooking on the fire. He started as he spotted something amiss, then lifted the cane he had brought back off the table.

"He forgot the cane, do you think I should go find them and give it to him?"

"He must not have needed it if he left it here and he looks like he's nearly all healed anyway, so I don't think that you need to."

 **-X-**

Both boys walked out onto the front porch, which overlooked a large stream and a downward sloping dirt path that curved off to the right and towards the village. A soft breeze ruffled Link's light brown hair as he took in the late afternoon sunlight and breathed in fresh air. He could hear children laughing farther down the path, an unfamiliar creaking and splashing, and the cry of a lone hawk overhead.

"Come on, Link. I think the others are playing farther down the stream, and I want you to meet my best friend Ilia."

Colin said from his place a few steps down the path. Link nodded, and walked after the excited little boy till they rounded a corner and Link could finally see the whole village.

The path that they were walking on split, with two branches going off to the left and one to the right. The first one to the left crossed over a small bridge that led up to a large house, then continued upward and out of sight. The second one on the left went down to a large field full of big orange things, then went over another small bridge and ended by a huge house with a strange wheel attached to it that was pulling at the stream's water.

"Is _THAT_ the injured swordsman?!"

Came a sudden yell from the stream, and Link looked to see three dripping wet children running towards them excitedly.

"Hi, guys-"

Colin began as the children ran up to them.

"-Have you guys seen Ilia? I want-"

The three reached them and either completely ignored Colin, or just didn't hear him over their own loud questions.

"Are _YOU_ the swordsman?!"

Demanded a boy with scruffy brown hair with a red headband strung through it.

"Were you terribly hurt by the monsters you beat?"

Asked a girl with winged looking, short brown hair.

"Are those earrings? I thought only girls wore earrings..."

The shortest of the three, a tiny boy said in a quiet voice.

Link wasn't sure if the last one was actually asking him a question, or if he was just voicing his thoughts aloud.

"He's got to be the swordsman because he's the only stranger that we've seen since the grownups started talking about one! What are you talking about Beth?! Of course he was hurt, he was fighting at least fifty of 'em!"

"Somehow I think that number is a bit inflated, Talo. This guy doesn't look like he could handle five monsters, let alone fifty."

"Wow! Are those blue ring earrings? I think that they look so handsome on you, don't listen to these little kids about them being only for girls. They don't know what they're talking about."

"Look around, Beth. The only other ones who are wearing earrings are girls."

"So?! What's your point, Malo!?"

"Wait, wait!"

Link interrupted before the fight could really get going.

"Pardon me, but I am not sure of all of your names. How about you tell them to me, and then I will know who I am addressing while I answer your questions."

"Nice going, Colin. You've had him in your house for days and you don't even bother to tell him about us, some friend you are."

The one with the headband said, crossing his arms and frowning at Colin.

"He did tell me about you, however I would like to be sure that I am not making any mistakes as to whom I am talking to."

"Oh! Even your voice is handsome!"

The girl squealed softly to herself as she clutched her hands together in front of her chest.

"My name is Talo, and I'm going to be a great swordsman someday!"

Said the scruffy looking, headband wearing boy, proudly waving a thin stick in a way that Link vaguely recognized to be a slashing attack. The stick snapped as Talo hit it against the tiny boy's head by mistake, and the little one sighed angrily.

"My name is Malo, Talo's younger brother. Can you do me a favor Mister and do something mildly horrific to this _bother_ of mine, so that he'll stop being such an imbecile."

The girl giggled and waved a dismissing hand at the two.

"They're always like this, pay them no mind. My name's Beth, will you tell us your name now?"

"Of course, my name is Link."

"Link, why are you wearing earrings like a girl?"

Malo asked, now ignoring his brother.

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Malo! Boys can wear earrings too!"

Beth exploded, while Malo bit back.

"What makes you so sure that they can?"

"He can wear earrings because he's a kick-butt fighter! So when people start teasing him about them, he beats their brains out!"

"Eeeew! He wouldn't do that!"

"He would too, he's about to do it to Malo any second now!"

"He is not!"

"Is too!"

"Why do you have such long and pointed ears? Why are they not rounded like everybody else's?"

Malo asked Link directly, now back to ignoring the others.

"That I am not sure of, are you all not Hylians as well?"

"I thought that we were Human?"

Talo questioned as he and Beth stopped arguing to listen to what was being said.

"We are Human, I don't know what a Hylian is."

"I see. Then perhaps-"

"Are you gonna be staying at Colin's house forever, or are you gonna live in someone else's house for awhile and then go live at another?"

"Talo do you mean, 'rotating houses'?"

"Yeah, that's the word!"

"That's two words..."

"I do not know what my living arrangements will be as of yet, however I am sure that you will know of them when they are decided."

"Umm, guys? Do you know where Ilia is? I wanted her to meet Link as well.."

"Oh right, Ilia! Umm, do you remember where she is Talo?"

"She's up in the Goat's Field checking on that due goat, I bet that she would like to meet you..."

Malo answered Beth before his brother could open his mouth.

"Oh darn!"

Beth said, stamping her foot angrily.

"We're not allowed to go up there because Mayor Bo thinks that Fado can't control the goats."

Colin explained as Link looked at them all questioningly.

"Since _we're_ not allowed to go up there, I don't know why Ilia gets to."

Talo said moodily as he tossed bits of tree bark that he was peeling off his broken stick into the flowing water of the stream.

"Well, she is older than us..and she gets along with the animals pretty well..."

Colin was answering when there was a woman's scream from one of the house along the path to the right, followed by a crashing noise and shattering glass. They were all about to run over when a plump woman and a very skinny, slightly hunched over man came hurrying out of the building.

"Why didn't you stop it!?"

The woman demanded, wheeling to face the small man.

"Because of you, that stupid monkey got away with even more fruit! Sometimes I feel like I'm running the store by myself, you useless man!"

"I'm sorry dear. It was just too fast for me..."

The woman snorted and turned away from him, then spotted the children and Link watching them from the stream side.

"Oh! Is that the young swordsman?! Hello there dear! I do hope that you're feeling better now, and if you need anything don't hesitate to come by my store!"

"That's my mother Sera, and my father Hanch."

Beth explained while putting a head to her forehead to hide her face.

"I can't believe that you just saw what an incompetent my father is, I'm so embarrassed."

"I am sure that he tried his best."

Link started, but all the children were shaking their heads.

"No, her father is just a major loser."

"My father couldn't do anything right if his life depended on it."

"I don't think he even really tries anymore..."

"Oh, I see."

Link said, feeling sorry for the man as watched Sera berate him some more before going back into her store.

"If we can't go see Ilia, how about we show you the rest of the village?"

All the children cheered at Talo's suggestion and when Link nodded his consent, they practically dragged him off to show him everything.

They showed him Talo and Malo's house, which was the one with the waterwheel that Link had been confused by earlier, and he met both their parents Pergie and Jaggle. They showed him the village's wheat crop that was being grown around Talo's house, and they kind of explained what Pumpkins were as they showed him the pumpkin field that he had seen before.

They showed him Fado's house that was locked up tight because he was off tending to the goats, and they ended the tour at Mayor Bo's house because they were all called in for supper as it was now getting quite late.

 **-X-**

"Dear. Link and I will be having dinner with Mayor Bo tonight and whenever Ilia is done with Fado, she should be coming here."

"Why is Ilia eating here instead of eating at her house with you three?"

Colin asked as Uli nodded her understanding. Rusl looked down at his son, then crouched down to his eye level and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Because the Mayor and I have some things that we have to go over with Link, and it would be best if Ilia was not there."

"Why?"

"Well, for many different reasons, one of which being that they haven't met yet. You wouldn't want them to be so uncomfortable at their first meeting do you? Neither do we, so we decided that she's coming eat here. But it should be quite fun for you and Mama, because Ilia hasn't come over for dinner in some time now."

"Is Link in trouble?"

"No, we just have a few things we need to talk about."

He said, while straightening up and turning to the door. He opened it, letting Link walk out ahead of him before walking after him and closing the door. Both walked towards the Mayor's house in silence, one trying to find the words to say and the other preparing himself for what was in store for the evening. The Mayor was waiting for them on his house's front steps, and they all walked into the wonderful smelling house.

"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes, so I think we should get down to business and have him look through his things."

The rather portly Mayor said to Rusl, who was nodding.

"I agree, we should get right to it."

Link raising an eyebrow at the somewhat cryptic statements from the two men.

"My things?"

Both men looked at him, but Rusl spoke first.

"Yes, the things that you had with you when we found you in the Goat's Field. You were too injured to keep wearing what you had, and we didn't want you armed when we knew so little about you."

"So we divided all of it, you - without your things - went to Rusl's house as he's the only trained fighter in the village and as such would be capable of stopping you should you have proven to be...hostile. I kept all of your things here - at my house - for when you were ready to get them back, they're over there in that chest."

Link turned to the old wooden chest that was sitting by the Mayor's large table and walked over. He crouched down before the chest to open it, pausing only when he saw the lock it bore.

"Go ahead, Link. Mayor Bo unlocked it for you before we got here."

Link nodded and opened the lid, then slowly started lifting the items out one by one.

There was a belt that had three small pouches on it, one contained a few rupees, another held some dried food, and the last one tingled under his touch. He opened it, and pulled out huge, green glittering jewel that was wrapped in two swirls of gold that were curved up the sides of it. He felt the smoothness and weight of the jewel in his hands as he slowly turned it over, watching the way it caught the firelight until he saw his face reflected in it.

 _...A huge tree in front of him, its brown bark pulsing a dull red as brittle leaves fell from its branches overhead to shower down around him like rain. He looked down at the strange stone in his hand, and the face reflected back at him showed his feelings of guilt and frustration as they pounded along with his heartbeat. "Take this stone with you. The stone that man wanted so much, he cast the curse on me...The future depends upon thee, Link. Thou art courageous..._

Link dropped the stone to the floor like it had burned him, recoiling mentally from these images and emotions that the jewel had awakened within him.

"Are you alright, Link?"

Rusl asked worriedly from where the two men stood watching him, Link nodded wordlessly and left the stone where it had fallen. He continued his search by pulling out from the tingling poach a wooden egg-shaped thing that he instinctively knew was an instrument because of the holes and mouthpiece it had, however he somehow knew that now was not the time to look over this small thing.

"How did that large stone and that strange... _thing_ fit into such a little pouch?!"

He heard the Mayor ask Rusl, as he set aside the wooded thing next to the pouches and belt. The next thing to come out of the chest was a very sturdy pair of boots whose fronts were extra hardened and had an interesting curved protrusion rising out of the tops to extend another few inches up. He set them down on the chair next to him so that they were about eye level with him, and give them an assessing look.

 _...It was dark and dusty, and the small hand he had clasped over his mouth was serving the dual purposes of keeping out the dust and keeping in his giggles. A pair of boots appeared in the space he could see between the floor and the piece of furniture above him, and it started getting harder to squash his giggles as they threatened to give away his hiding place._

" _Now where are you, you little scamp?"_

 _A male voice asked from high above, and the giggles started slipping out around his hand._

" _Could you be, under here?!"_

 _A large hand suddenly shot in and grabbed his arm, gently pulling him out as he laughed and tried to wiggle his way out of that caring grip..._

He looked away from the boots and pulled out the next thing, which looked like a forearm guard. It was made of very thick leather and while it had a few light scars on its well cared for surface, it had a very clear pattern rising from it that he traced lightly with a finger.

 _...He traced the pattern with his small fingers with one hand from where he sat on his father's strong shoulders, the other small hand holding a fist full of the man's blond hair. Father was holding his leg with one very large hand and the other was up behind Link on his back, holding him steady during their walk._

" _It looks like a heart."_

" _What does?"_

" _The top of your vanbace, see? It makes a heart."_

 _He pointed to it as Father let go of his leg and looked at the Vambrace._

" _You're right, it does."_

 _He grabbed his leg again and ducked them both under a low tree branch, the hand on his back sliding up to make sure that Link didn't hit his head on it as they passed._

" _It looks like that on purpose."_

" _Why?"_

" _To remind the warrior wearing it of his family, his friends, and his own heart. It is also there to remind him that the enemies he is fighting have hearts and loved ones as well and should he have to take one of their lives, it is there to remind him to respect it. That is why we wear it on our sword arm-"_

" _So that way we see it!"_

" _Yes, that is why. So we can see it."..._

He set the Vambrace down by the boots and pulled out the next things, a strange pair of gloves. They were fingerless leather with the back of the hand being hard and stiff for protection, but palm being far softer and more flexible. Beyond the wrist they turned from leather to a very thick cloth padding that extended almost to the wearer's elbow, and was a dark blue in color.

He set these aside and pulled out a thick, cream colored, long-sleeve shirt that had tough lacing all up the front, running from the hem to its high neck. It had slits cut in the underarms, and some lacing down by the wrists as well. He pulled out some pants that looked and felt like they were of the same material as the shirt, with lacing along the lower legs and the front fly. He folded these and set them aside, then lifted out a short-sleeve chain-mail tunic.

 _...He was careful to not get his head caught in the rings as he pulled it on over his head and as the weight of it settled on his shoulders, he looked down at himself. The mail fell down to about mid-thigh and just short of his elbows, its square neck mimicking the shape of the collarbone it rested above..._

He lowered the chain-mail to the floor in front of the chest, and then lifted out the finest piece of clothing he'd ever seen.

It was a forest green, short-sleeved tunic with a square neck, lacing on the sleeves, lacing along its sides that started at the tunic's mid-thigh length skirt and ended at the underarms. It was adorned with beautiful, yet simple embroidery along all of its hems and there was the greatest concentration of embroidery at the square neck where there was also a slight V cut. The green cloth itself was very tough, but was soft and tingled slightly beneath his fingers.

 _...He walked to the front door, dressed for the first time in all of his father's armor. He heard his mother behind him and turned to say a short goodbye to her before he left. She gasped softly, tears glistened in her eyes as she looked him over._

" _You look just like your father."_

 _She choked out, and he started slightly. Not at her words, but at how she said them. She was always so composed, that he couldn't understand why she looked like she was about to cry. He knew that he was coming back and she herself had said that it was her wish that he do this alone, so why was she so grief-stricken?_

" _Mother.."_

 _He said while taking a step towards her. She suddenly moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly to herself despite the hard armor he was wearing._

" _Don't say anything, please."_

 _She whispered in his ear, her voice was laced with tears and her body shook with the effort of not breaking down right then and there._

" _Take this with you, and never forget...I love you..so much...My son."_

 _He felt her slide something into his third pouch before she forced herself to release him and she took a few steps back..._

He felt tears sliding down his face, but he forced his shaking arms to fold the tunic and rest it on the other clothing.

He pulled out what at first looked like another belt, but then he realized that it was a shoulder harness as he lifted out the sword with it. The sword was just as heavy as his hands remembered, and a few more tears slid down before he could whip them away. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened at that huge tree or what he had been fighting to get himself so injured, but he didn't want to remember anymore of this past he told himself.

He put the sword down with the belt, before looking inside and pulling out the last thing within the chest. It was a long green hat that matched the tunic he had pulled out before and as his fingers curled around the hem of it, one last tiny memory surfaced.

 _...The fabric was soft and warm on his face, but when he opened his eyes it was dark within the hat. He heard deep laughter mixed with a lighter one, and then his father's voice asking._

" _What are you doing, silly?"_

" _Wearing your hat."_

" _It looks a bit big for you, dear. Here, let me help you."_

 _Gentle hands pulled the hat up and back until he could see his mother's dark hair and smiling face._

" _That looks a bit better, but I think that it well still be a few years until he is big enough to really fit into it."_

 _His mother said was he crawled across the bed towards them._

" _It will be sooner than you think."_

 _His father responded calmly before suddenly grabbing him and pulling him up next to the two of them. Both tickling him until all of them had to stop and fell back on the bed to catch their breaths..._

"The armor was my father's."

He said, startling the two other men in the room with him.

"I think most of it was his, but he died awhile ago so that must be why I was using it. I lived somewhere in this forest and while I do not remember where, I do not think that it was near here...So I think whatever I fought with won't come here because I came so far to get here."

"Well that's a relief to hear."

The Mayor said, wiping his brow.

"I wish to live here for at least a while longer, if I may."

"Of course! Let us discuss the particulars over dinner as I think it's ready now."

The Mayor said, walked by Link and the now empty chest.

* * *

 **A HUGE Thank You to the people who have read and reviewed so far!**

Tai-ku-ai ***blushes*** **I'm glad that you like it so far and that you gave my story a chance. Hopefully you will like the chapters to come as well!**

FCL ***blushes furiously, falls back on bed squealing happily* I..I don't know what to say, you're so sweet! Thank you for pointing out my mistake (i fixed it), I would love to have a Beta but none of the ones that I've PM'ed have ever responded...Link is around 16, 17 years old in this story. I hope to hear/read more reviews from you, buddy! ;)**

Theotaku3 **He did give that impression, didn't he? He's just too modest for his own good. ;)**

Leave a review and I'll thank you too!

 **Best wishes till next time!**


	3. 3 Ordon Villager?

**Hi, everyone!**

 **So this story is so easy to write because the inspiration for it just keeps on flowing, so I'm gonna ride this wave! Another chapter is up, and I'm feeling...good. *fanfare and confetti***

 **Enjoy!**

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

 ** _I don't own Legend of Zelda or the pic, but if I did I would be the proudest person alive!_**

 **-X- time skip**

 _"Thoughts"_

 _...Memories..._

* * *

"Here's the house the Mayor and I told you about, Link."

Rusl had led Link down the right side path through the village till they were where they stood now, in front of a house that was just outside of the village. Unlike the village houses, this one was settled in a huge tree and looked like it was just as much of a living part of the tree as the branches above it to Link.

"This house was made by a ranger who called himself Raven, he helped us find this place to build our village at when we fled the war about ten years ago."

"War?"

Link asked while staring entranced at the house before him, but not wanting to be rude by not appearing to hear his companion.

"Aye, a war between the kingdom of Hyrule and the Lizalfos to the East. The village that most of us older ones lived in was destroyed during it and having nowhere else to go, we fled into the nearby forest to save ourselves. I met Raven while I was out hunting one day and told him what had happened to us, then brought him to meet what was left of the village. Beth was a little toddler, and both Pergie and Uli were pregnant with Talo and Colin at the time. I'll never forget the look on his face when he walked into our makeshift camp and saw our women and little one. He looked so sad and pained to see the paltry amount we had, and how miserable they were. He spent that night doing all he could for us, then he took us to where our village is now and helped the men build the things we needed to get the village started."

"Did he live here with all of you then?"

"Not really, he only did briefly while helping us with the really difficult work. I assumed that he lived somewhere in the forest, as he said that he had a duty to watch these lands."

"Then why did he make this house if he was not going to live in it, was it a gift to someone?"

"I don't really know, he had already started it when we moved here and he spent all his free time finishing it. Although for the life of me, I don't know how he managed to carve a home out of a living tree like this."

"It is an excellent question. However if the home is his and I start using it, what happens when he returns? Will he be angry for it being used without his permission?"

"He hasn't been here to visit in about seven years now, so I don't know if he is ever coming back. But even if he did, I don't think he'd mind. He was a kind man and a good friend to all of us at the village, so I think that once he heard your story he would understand."

"If no one has lived there in the time that as passed since he was last here, will it-"

"I've been taking care of it for him, so it's in good condition."

"Why would you do that for so many years?"

Link asked, finally pulling his eyes from the tree to look at Rusl. Rusl took his eyes from the house and looking at Link with a sad smile.

"Because even though I don't think that he's ever coming back, he was the most decent and trustworthy man I've ever met and I want him to know that he always has a home with us."

"He must have been quite an honorable man to be worthy of such a friendship with you."

Link said looking back at the house, while Rusl continued to look at him.

"You remind me of him, because even though he was fair-haired and you're dark, you are very similar to him in temperament and appearance. He was a Hylian that as a warrior who wore a green tunic as well, so perhaps you're related."

"I do not know, however I do not remember a man named Raven among my relatives or acquaintances at this time."

"Then it may just be wishful thinking on my part, but it's growing quite late now. So let's head back to my house and tomorrow we can begin preparing this house for you to live in."

Rusl turned back towards the village.

"Rusl, did he carry a sword?"

"Yes, over his shoulder like the knights trained with a sword do in Hyrule."

Link turned to Rusl, blue eyes determined.

"Help me to hone my skills with a sword, Rusl. I need to be able to use that sword properly if I am to hold it."

He looked back at the house and said quietly.

"I do not wish to dishonor the memory of the man who lived here and meant so much to you."

Rusl patted his shoulder and nodded.

"I will, the space in this clearing is big enough for it and Jaggle is a skilled wood-crafter who can make us some wooden swords to spar with."

 **-X-**

Link now spent the next few days collecting what he needed for his house, play with the children when they could catch him, and to better acquaint himself with the older villagers; however he had yet to meet Ilia. After he and Colin finished putting the last things Link needed around his new house, Link and Colin were walking over to Mayor Bo's house to try to see Ilia. Mayor Bo was standing in his front yard fixing his house's sign when he saw them walking over.

"Oh, Link and young Colin!

"You know Link, we need to get you some clothes of your own so that you can get out of those ones of Rusl's."

"I thank you, however I feel that they are just fine as he never really wore them."

"I see, don't worry I will convince someone to make you some new clothes as a young man such as yourself shouldn't have to make your own."

"No really Mayor Bo, I-"

"So how may I help you two today?"

"Um, is Ilia here?"

Colin asked a bit too quietly, and the Mayor bent down towards him with a teasing light in his squinted eyes.

"What did you say? You'll have to speak up a bit, my boy! My hearing ain't what it use to be, you know."

"Is your daughter Ilia here? Colin and I wish to see her."

Link answered for Colin, not wanting to put Colin through the same pattern of quiet questions and loud "what did you says?" that had happened the last three days that they had come by. The Mayor thought it was funny, but it only flustered Colin.

"Oh, sorry boys. She left for the Goat's Field about a half an hour ago to check on that pregnant goat of ours. She's convinced that it will have its kids soon and that she should be there for it."

"I thought that was her job, giving medical care to the animals?"

Link asked as Colin walked over to the path leading up to the Goat's Field and started petting one of the village's Cuccos.

"Yes, but that goat's not going to give birth for at least another week. She gets a bit too over protective of the animals sometimes, and it don't help that this one is one of her favorites too."

"I see."

Link said, eyes straying over to Colin to see if the boy was getting bored and he would have an excuse to leave before he was pulled into listening to the Mayor complain about the many small problems that he had to deal with as Mayor for the next hour. He could hear the other children checking the pumpkins and Uli conversing with Pergie as the two washed some clothes in the stream.

" _Perhaps I should offer to help-"_

"So there was something I had been meaning to talk to you about, Link."

"Yes, Sir?"

He turned his eyes politely back to the Mayor and placing an attentive look on his face.

"I had been meaning to talk to Rusl about my idea this morning, but time just slipped away from me and I never had a chance to. I'd been thinking about a jo-"

"Stop that goat!"

A girl's voice cried out from up the trail leading to Goat's Field.

"Don't let it escape, STOP THAT GOAT!"

Colin froze in his spot on the path as a large blue goat came thundering down straight towards him from the field above, baaing and snorting as it charged. Link acted instantly, spinning around and sprinting past Colin towards the charging goat before planting himself directly in its path. He lifted his arms and shifted his weight forward with a deep bending of his legs in the second before he made his move.

He seized the goat's single circular horn low down on either side of its head with his hands, feet digging into the dirt path as he struggled to arrest the goat's flight. The goat's eyes were wide with fear of whatever sent it to flight, and it grappled to shove past him so strongly that he could feel his feet sliding backward in the dirt.

He could feel his body reaching its limit as sweat poured down it from the strain of holding the goat back, so with a wrench of his whole upper body strength he jerked the goat's giant head suddenly to his right; away from where Colin still was. Causing the beast lost its balance and toppled to the ground with a thud, where Link pinned it until it calmed down.

Panting, he stood and turned to check on Colin to find Uli crouched down in front of the boy. Both were staring at him, as were the children, Pergie, and the Mayor.

"Are...are you...alright-Colin?"

He asked, starting to get a bit uncomfortable with their stares and silence as he struggled to get his breathing back to normal.

"Golden Goddesses Link, are you alright?!"

Uli gasped, seeming to have found her voice again and in doing so opened the floodgates for the others.

"Did you see _THAT_?!"

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life and I've lived with you for all of it, so it's quite a feat."

"Goddesses boy, that was a little close."

"If you two grow up to do things like that, then you may even get girlfriends someday."

"He didn't hurt himself, did he? The goat took quite a tumble."

"Are you alright, Link?"

Colin asked quietly in the sea of voices, as both he and Uli stood. Link's sharp ears heard him though and him smiled slightly at Colin. Nodding an answer from his bent forward with hands on knees position, as he tried catching his breath.

A man that Link had seen before briefly came running down the path towards them, coming to a halt by the goat that was only now getting to its hooves. He looked at Link, then at Colin and Uli, and then at the goat. Realization dawned on his face and he looked at Colin and Uli as the Mayor walked over to him.

"What happened, Fado?"

"I don't really know. Ilia was checking on that goat again while I was fixing part of the barn, when on of the goat kids knocked down a board that I had propped up and this goat was near the gate; and it got out while my back was turned. Ilia wasn't strong enough to hold it, so she started yelling and I ran after it. It don't look like it hurt anyone, but I am sorry."

"No, no. It's not your fault, Fado, could have happened to anyone."

Mayor Bo said while patting him on the shoulder kindly, he turned to Link who had just straightened up.

"Are you sure you're not hurt, Link?"

Uli asked, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and smiled at her kindly.

"I assure you that I am fine. I am just glad that you and Colin are unharmed."

"Link my boy."

He turned his head to the Mayor.

"The thing that I was going to talk to you about before this all happened was that I had thought that I found the perfect job for you, and it seems that I was right! It seems that you have the right instincts for Goat Herding, and Fado come really use your help up there as the village has twenty or so goats to tend to. What do you say?"

"You want him to decide now, have you not just seen what he has just been through?! At least let him have the time to recover."

Uli said in surprise to the Mayor.

"I agree to the position, Mayor Bo. When should I begin?"

"Tomorrow. You will begin no sooner than tomorrow."

Uli answered for the Mayor, her eyes telling him that she would stand for no argument. He nodded reluctantly and turned to walk back inside his house. Uli swayed slightly and Link gently grabbed her arm as Colin grabbed onto one of her legs.

"Oh, thank you boys. I suddenly feel a bit dizzy, I think it must be the heat."

"You did move very quickly, perhaps you should sit down for a minute and rest. Colin, go get your mother some water please."

Colin nodded to Link and ran off towards his house, and Pergie gestured to the two of them.

"Come put her over here in the shade."

Link did as she said and Uli thanked him. After she had sat down though, she made a distressed sound and added somewhat softly so that the children wouldn't hear her.

"My washing! Now that I've sat down I'll never be able to get back up to do it."

"Don't worry about it, dear. I'll just do it along with my own."

"But you already have so much with your husband's, two boys, and your own Pergie."

"It's really not that much, dear. You already washed yours, so that just leaves Rusl's and Colin's."

Colin ran over to his mother carrying a deep bowl like what they eat soup out of, and handed it to her.

"I got you a bowl of water Mama, so that you could have a lot and not run out so quickly."

"Thank you Colin! You're such a thoughtful boy, will you do me one more favor?"

"Yes Mama."

"Good boy. Will you go find your father and tell him that he is going to have to make dinner tonight?"

Colin nodded then ran off, and Uli took a long drink from the bowl before turning back to Pergie.

"I just don't think that this is very fair to you, Pergie. You already do so much for me that I'd really hate to have you do more."

"I will do if for you if you want. I know how to wash clothes and I have nothing else that I have to do."

Link said while calmly taking up Uli's washing and beginning to work as both women just stared at him. Uli started tearing up, then said softly with a smile.

"You're going to make some girl very happy one day, Link."

"I'll say, first a daring rescue and now you're doing the laundry. That alone should get you whoever you'll want."

"And he gets along so well with the children."

"Plus, he's definitely not bad on the eyes."

Link felt his ears and cheeks warming up as he washed the clothes, and it had nothing to do with heat of the day.

 **-X-**

He had finished washing the clothes and was almost done hanging them up to dry, when the small group of children came trickling over to him. Beth and Colin in the lead, with Talo and Malo trailing behind somewhat as they constantly stopped to play with something.

"Link, were you scared when you were stopping the goat earlier?"

Beth asked as he straightened out a towel and pegged it on the line.

"No, I was too busy thinking about what needed to be done to stop the goat and to make sure that Colin was alright. There was not really any room for fear in my thoughts with that there."

"Oh, really? That's _so_ cool!"

Talo and Malo caught up the them then, and as Link was bending down to get the last thing in the basket he saw a very strange looking animal with them. It vaguely reminded him of a fox, but it was bulkier and had a softer look to its eyes, and more exuberant air about it.

"Link. we never had a chance to show you our dog before because he works on herding the goats, but Ilia didn't want him there given what happened today; so here he is!"

"His name is Bones."

Malo added after a couple seconds when he saw that his brother was not gong to provide the information.

Link held out his hand to the dog who sniffed it carefully, then leapt on Link and covered him in licks. Link pushed the dog off him, only to have it jump back on again, and this continued much to the delight of the watching children until he stood up.

"Dogs sure can be rough and yucky...just like boys I guess. I brought my mother's new cat to show you so that you're not scared away from ever having a pet of your own because of that dog."

Beth had been holding a tricolored cat in her arms, but she held it out to Link as she spoke and he took it from her after a few seconds.

"My mother named him Link the other day, so that name should be easy for you to remember."

"Yes it should be."

Link replied as he gently scratched under the cat's chin, eliciting a strange rumbling from within it. He looked up as he heard Uli walking by them on her way back to the house and smiled at her when she saw them.

"The clothes are all taken care of, is there anything else you would like some help with?"

"Oh, no! Thank you very much Link, but you've done plenty for me today. I was just wondering if any of you had seen a woven bark cradle around somewhere."

"No, I am afraid not. Is it missing?"

"I don't know, I thought that I brought it out to clean it but I can't find it anywhere. So perhaps I'm mistaken and it's still inside somewhere."

Link put the cat down and took that last thing from the basket, then handed the empty basket to Beth.

"Take this up to Uli's house for her please, Beth. Where did you take the cradle to clean it, Uli?"

"Down by where I had my washing, but I'm not even sure that I brought it out with me this morning to begin with."

"But it's such a nice cradle Mama...You and Dad would be so sad to lose it."

"I know Colin, but it could just be up at the house still waiting to be cleaned."

"I can help you look for it, if you want Ms Uli. I'm taking this basket up to your house already, so I might as well."

"Thank you, Beth dear."

They started walking towards Uli house, but then Beth whirled around.

"Talo! Malo! Make sure that my mother's cat gets back to her store, otherwise I'll tell your parents all about you-know-what."

Both boys went rigid with fright before Talo scooped up furry Link and speeding off to the store with Malo right at his heels. Beth and Uli continued the walk up to the house as Link hung up the last shirt before sticking the remaining pegs back on the line, and setting off down the stream with Colin hurrying after him.

"What are you doing Link?"

"Looking for your mother's cradle."

They came to the small lake that lay to one side of the village and Link looked around before taking off his sandals.

"I will be back in a second. I want you to wait here Colin so that if I bring it back you can take it from me. Alright?"

Colin nodded and Link dived into the cool water of the figure eight shaped lake, slowly swimming towards the curve that hid a large part of the lake from sight of the village. The water felt quite nice but the swimming itself was far more tiring than he remembered.

" _It must be due to my having been injured for so long, I'm falling out of shape."_

When he rounded the bend he was gladdened to see a dark thing bobbing gently by some rocks, he pulled himself up on them and grabbed the cradle.

" _I am not sure that I can swim back with this, as I do not want to damage it but how else could I get it there?"_

He looked at the large cradle in his hands dubiously.

" _I could perhaps push it with my head while I swim, but I think that it is too big and heavy for me to place it on my stomach and swim back like that...So what do I do?"_

He spotted some strange looking grass out of the corner of his eye, so he plucked a blade and twirled it between his fingers as he thought about what to do. A faint breeze stirred the world around him and he lifted the grass to his lips, blowing on it gently as he tried to match the song of the wind.

... _His mother brought the special grass to her lips and played a gently commanding song that called the Hawk down to her..._

His eyes flew open as he heard the cry of a Hawk from above him, and he instinctively held out his arm as a perch for it as he felt the wing beats push the air around him. It landed on his arm and nearly caused him to fall at the unexpected amount of height it had, but he was too confused by all this to risk falling on this huge brown bird.

It stared expectantly at him with bright golden eyes and he stared at it in puzzlement at what he should do, then he got an idea. He stood and faced the village, then held up the cradle to the Hawk who surprisingly shifted and took it with one razor taloned foot.

"Take this to the boy Colin who is waiting over there, then return here to me."

The Hawk chirped and Link lifted his arm so that it had the space to spread its wings over his head. It flapped several times, then flew off with the cradle towards the village. He didn't know why he felt completely confident that the Hawk would do as he had instructed, but he did, and so he fished around in his pockets for something to gift it with when it returned.

He found a bit of cooked fish leftover from his and Colin's lunch just as the Hawk returned without the cradle, so he carefully held out the fish and the Hawk took it before flying off.

The swim back to the village felt much longer than the swim out had felt, so by the time he made it back to Colin he was so tired that he almost failed to notice that Rusl was waiting there as well.

"My. my. Somebody looks tired, must be from all that hero work that you've done today."

Rusl chucked good naturally as he looked at an exhausted and dripping-wet Link.

"Link? How did you manage to send the cradle over by that Hawk? It was so big, even for you."

"Well, there is a special kind of grass that you come blow through that calls to the Hawk. How about I show you how to do it some other time? I feel quite tired right now."

"Ok, here. Even though I know that you said to stay here, I got you a towel to dry off with...I hope that you're not angry, Link."

Colin hesitantly held out a towel to Link, who crouched down to take it while smiling at the little boy.

"No, of course not! That was very thoughtful of you, thank you Colin."

Colin smiled back as Link stood and started drying himself.

"Colin, go tell your mother that I will be there to finish making dinner in a minute."

Colin nodded and hurried off, and Rusl waited until Link only had his hair left to dry before gesturing to him.

"Here, walk with me. I'll carry the cradle so that you can finish."

They slowly started walking to Rusl's house as Link toweled his hair. It was getting late now as the sun went down, lighting bugs were starting to drift on the warm breeze and the frogs had started their nightly serenade. He could hear that other people were settling down to eat in their homes, and now that he knew what he was listening for, he could hear the dog and cat begging for their food as well.

"I want to thank you for saving Colin and helping my wife today. The baby is not that long off and she can do less and less as its time nears; and while Colin most likely wouldn't have been killed that goat, it could have hurt he quite badly. So thank you, my friend."

"Your family has done much for me in my time here Rusl, so it was nice to be able to help them for a change. I must ask though, where did you get that cradle from?"

"That was a gift from Raven to Uli and myself for right before Colin was born, why?"

"It was just very nicely made, so I wondered as to the maker."

"I see. So I heard that the Mayor gave you a job of helping Fado look after the goats, are you sure that you're up to it? It's hard work and it would only be for part of the day, so you can count on getting roped into helping with other people's work too."

"I think so. Colin helped me finish getting all my things into Raven's house earlier and I do not think that I could bear to sit around idly while everyone around me has work that needs to be done."

They had reached the house by now and found Uli and Colin sitting on the front porch waiting for them.

"Colin told me about how you found the cradle for me Link, thank you so much. This cradle has so many memories for me and my family, it would have been very painful to lose it forever."

"It was my pleasure. Your family has been nothing but kindness to me since I first arrived, so I am grateful to have the opportunity to return some small amount of that kindness."

"Will you have some dinner with us? There's plenty for everyone."

"My apologies, but I am very tired and while your offer is tempting I must decline."

"You make your polite excuses, but we all know that you're only trying to save yourself from my horrible cooking."

Rusl joked as he helped his wife up, and they all walked towards the front door.

"Well...I was not going to say it, but that may have been a small part of my reasoning."

"Uh-huh, I thought so. Goodnight, Link."

"Goodnight, Link. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, Link...see you tomorrow?"

"Of course! Goodnight everyone."

They all went inside and he started down the path, and had almost passed by the bridge to the Mayor's house when he heard a girl's voice call out his name.

He turned and saw a girl that he had to assume was Ilia hurrying down the path from the Goat's Field towards him. He walked across the bridge to shorten the distance that she had to travel to get to him and waited patiently for her to catch her breath when she did make it. She had short, light brown hair that was somewhat tied back, and when she finally caught her breath he could see that her was about a head shorter than him.

"Hi! My name is Ilia and your name is Link, right?"

She asked, holding out her hand in what was a completely foreign gesture to him. He looked at the proffered hand for a second, unsure of what to do. Then he took her fingers and turned her hand over so that the back of it was up and now her hand was gently resting on his. He bowed over it and as he straightened up, he released her hand and gave her a polite smile.

"Correct. And you must be Ilia, yes?"

"Umm, yes. Yes I am."

She answered, looking very surprised but at what he wasn't sure. She shook herself out of this though and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry that we haven't met yet, and I promise that I haven't been trying to avoid you or anything like that. I'm the village's animal healer and one of the goats is expecting kids very soon, so I've been trying to keep a closer eye on her lately and it's been eating up all my time."

"I did not think that you had been trying to avoid me, and even if I did Colin assured me many times that you would never do that."

"Oh, Colin! I heard about how you stopped the goat and saved him and Uli earlier, thank you so much for that! Uli is a wonderful woman and little Colin is such a sweetheart, that I would be very sad if anything bad ever happened to them."

"As would I. I have become very good friends with Rusl's whole family and hopefully am on my way to being on good terms with everyone in the village."

"Well, you don't have to worry about getting my father to like you because he thinks that you're one of the best things to happen to this little place since he became Mayor, and that is a _very_ big compliment coming from him."

Link chuckled lightly as she rolled her eyes as she spoke the last sentence.

"I do not doubt the sincerity meant in the complement, but I am somewhat dubious as to the comparison though, as I cannot have had that great an impact here as he has."

"He doesn't seem to think so. But hopefully you and I will get a chance to have a nice long conversation sometime soon though, because I have so many questions that I want to ask you."

"Well, your father has given me a job of helping Fado with herding the goats, so I would think that we shall see each other sometime during that job."

"Oh, well then I guess we will! Where are you staying? I can walk over there with you if you want."

"I am staying in Raven's house, so I respectfully decline your invitation as it is very much out of your way and I have kept you from your dinner long enough."

"Raven's old house! What possessed them to stick you all the way out there?!"

"I believe that the thought was that I would have some space to myself and a roof over my head, but not be taking up anyone's valuable resources."

"Well, don't worry. I'll talk to my father and see if I can figure something else out for you, because I doubt that you want to live by yourself at the edge of the village."

"Do not trouble yourself as I am quite happy with the house, and I do not mind if it is a bit far from everyone. That just means that I will not be woken up by the little ones anymore."

"If you say so, but I'm still going to talk with him. It was so nice to finally talk to you and I guess that I will see you tomorrow Link. Goodnight."

"As you wish, Goodnight Ilia."

* * *

 **A big Thank You to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!**

 **You three are fast become like pen-pals to me because of how long and involved my replies are becoming! Love the support and you guys, Thanks! *little red hearts for everyone near me***

Tai-ke-ai : ***blushes* I'm glad that you're really liking it so far, and I know that you asked a lot of questions in your review so I will tell you now that all of them are going to be answered in-story. All were excellent Q's by the way, and it make me so happy to see that you're so into the story that you're taking the time to really think about it! So happy!**

Theotaku3 : ***blushes bright pink* You're so sweet, I'm flattered beyond belief that this story was on your mind during your 3 days without internet. "FOR 3 DAYS?!" How did you live?! But I'm happy that you made it!**

FCL : ***blushing furiously*** **Please entertain me! I love reading your lengthy reviews and they help me so much! The drawing was part of his training, it will make sense later on.** **I'll get to the elephant in your review now by saying that I love writing the children's parts in this story because their characters are so vivid, but in them talking about Beth's father there was a part in Twilight Princess in the beginning that really stuck out to me when I first played it:**

 **Link rides into the village to find Beth's mom haranguing her father about how useless he is and as soon as she's done, Beth starts doing it too. Her father just stands there giving small voiced replies to both his wife and daughter until they see Link, then both Beth and her mom start talking to him and ignoring her father. I thought that it was harsh, but Link's character and the one or two other people around didn't even bat an eye at it. It was normal to them, so I tried writing it like it was a normal thing for the children to see, and words that they would have heard used by those around them before.**

 **Thank you for reminding me about the pets, somehow they just slipped my mind so I made sure to put them in there for you! ;) We will learn why Bo holds fast to that Rusl is the only fighter in the village later in the story. I am going to say that I envisioned this Link as TP Link, but don't worry about OoT Link because we'll get to him...Mahhahaha! XD**

 **And are you offering to Beta for me?! Why do you think that you're a bad Beta? Because depending on your reasoning for this thinking, I may have a Beta!**

Leave a review and I'll thank you too!

 **Best wishes till next time!**


	4. 4 Link's Home

**Hi, everyone!**

 **This story just reached over 100 views! SO excited by that Thanks everyone who has read it! I pumped out this chapter in two sittings, which is incredibly fast for me fyi, so please let me know what you think!**

 **Enjoy!**

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

 ** _I don't own Legend of Zelda or the pic, but you people would be the first to know if this changes! ;)_**

 **-X- time skip**

 _*Thoughts*_

 _...Memories/dreams..._

* * *

 _...I had walked with both my parents for most of our day long trip, but as sunset approached my feet started dragging and so I was now getting a piggyback from Father. I could feel the small rings of the chainmail through Father's special green tunic and while they didn't hurt or anything like that, it made Father seem bigger and harder than normal._

" _Your back and shoulders feel strange when you are wearing your chainmail, Daddy."_

" _Do they now? Chainmail is kind of a strange feeling thing to wear, I guess."_

" _Why do you wear it every time we all go to replenish the spiritual posts?"_

" _Your mother and I have to wear our green Shrine Maiden and Knight uniforms when we go to the spiritual posts so that the creatures that live here know that we are the Forest Guardian pair from the Hylian Order."_

" _But is that uniform not just the tunic, hat, and sword? Why do you wear the Chainmail too?"_

" _In case we ever meet with any trouble while we are out, part of being a Knight is being prepared for when the unexpected arises and you are needed. Should something bad happen I want to be ready to defend you and your mother, and wearing the chainmail helps me not have to worry about myself so that I can focus on protecting you two."_

 _Father turned his head and looked at me._

" _Does that make sense?"_

 _I nodded, then glanced down at a small movement to see Mother interlacing her right hand's fingers with that of Father's left hand. I closed my eyes and rested my suddenly heavy head down on the strong shoulder of my warm father, then I started as I felt that shoulder changed into rough tree bark and my whole body suddenly grew cold._

 _My eyes snapped open as fighting assaulted my senses, I saw an explosion of brightly colored sparks in the darkening forest and heard the cloth of Mother's skirt flutter as she fought with the closest one of the things attacking both her and Father._ _It was a creature whose head looked like a mix of a shield in shape and a nightmarish carving with no recognizable facial features._

 _The things were black in color with strange glowing red designs all over them, and were about the size of a bear that was in the form of a hunched over man. It gave a deep vibrating screech of pain as her spell hit it and after the hissing of flameless fire from the spell scorched its strange face, the monster collapsed to the ground letting me see Father across the clearing._

 _No armor protecting him, no shield on his arm, and not even any boots on his feet as he fought two similar dark monsters. He slashed at them with his sword, then was forced to roll away as one of their huge front "hands" swiped at him with a power that matched its large size. His roll ended behind one of them and he sprang up with a deep thrust up the entire length of the monster's back, instantly slaying the creature._

 _It had barely hit the ground before the last dark monster standing gave an ear-splitting screech that was so loud and jarring that us Hylians had to cover our ears, and I felt tears of pain well-up in my squeezed shut eyes as it felt like my head was about to burst with the sound._

 _When the screech and its ringing in my ears finally stopped, I opened my eyes to find all three monsters were standing again. Father gave a rough cry as the monster that had just brought the others back to life scored a hit across his back and three long red gashes appeared as he fell to the ground. Mother gasped, then launched a spell at the two dark monsters standing over Father and a shimmering light blue haze of the spell slowed them._

 _The monster that had been attacking Mother swung out and hit her full across the side as she cast the spell at the others, she fell without so much as a cry. The thump of that creature's hand as it struck Mother's body echoed as the only sound my ears could hear as I watched her fall slowly, the heavy thud of her hitting the ground opened my ears to other sounds again and I ran out from behind the tree screaming for her._

 _A shadow fell over me and suddenly Father was there, standing over both Mother and I._

" _Call the fairy that you were playing with earlier Link."_

 _He said as the other two monsters ran towards us, so I closed my eyes and called out the fairy's name. A pale pink light twinkled by my left hand and suddenly the fairy was there, wings fluttering in my face as the fairy bombarded me with questions that I could not distinguish from each other._

" _My Mama..."_

 _The fairy hovered above her, now seeing why it had been called._

" _What injury should I heal?"_

 _The world felt like it was getting colder around me as the fairy's words tumbled through my mind over and over again._

" _She has more than one?"_

 _A slow thought surfaced as I stared at the fairy and my frighteningly still Mama._

" _What should I do, Link?"_

" _Heal as many of her injuries as you can!"_

 _Father's voice boomed from above me, causing both the fairy and me to jump._

" _Ok, got it! Wait!? You can understand me? Only those that have lived he-"_

" _Heal my wife, then we will talk!"_

 _He sounded angry and slightly scared, so I lifted my head to look at him._

".. _Is Mama really that hurt?"_

 _The two monsters that had been fighting him before were bearing down on us, but we didn't have to worry about the one that had hit Mama because it was already down from when Father came over to us._

 _Yet even as the other two rushed in, Father took a step forward to meet them with his sword glowing with a faint golden light in his left hand. Just as they went to attack him, he spun in a blur of illuminating gold, slicing through a mixture of pulsing red and dark black. Both monsters fell to pieces, and the bodies of all three exploded into strange black squares that flew up to vanish in an inky pulsating void that cut into the darkening sky like a puncture wound._

 _The fairy danced its way around Mama, pink sparkles falling down onto her until she glittered like a beautiful cloudless night and the tiny dancer rested lightly on her nose._

" _I've healed all I can."_

 _The fairy reported to Father as he crouched by her other side._

" _She had two splintered ribs and something was wrong with a lung, but I think I fixed them! Don't have her really do anything for the next few hours so that the healing magic fully melds with her body and magic, and then she should be perfect again."_

" _Thank you."_

 _Father whispered before the fairy vanished with an exhausted nod and flutter of its wings._

" _Is Mama alright?"_

" _She will be, I promise."_

 _A strange vibrating sound reached our ears, followed by a weird happy/angry laughter. Father whipped around and we could see the oddest looking...thing. It looked like a man, but he was dressed all in white and red diamond patterned clothes, had grayish skin, and very straight white hair._

" _Well well, Twinrova was right yet again. You did cross forward to plague us with your existence."_

" _Who are you, and what is your connection to Twinrova?!"_

 _Father demanded, standing up into a tensed fighting stance._

" _Oh, how could I have forgotten my manners? You must think me so uncivilized, I think I must be suffering Star-Struckness because I'm in the presence of a_ real _hero like yourself. My name is Lord Ghirahim, but you need not remember it because you'll be dead long before I'm born."_

" _What are you doing here?! Are you responsible for those creatures that were just attacking us?!"_

 _The man Ghirahim had been staring at Father, but Mama suddenly stirred as she came to and my happy gasp caused him to looked down at me; a look of amusement appearing in his eyes._

" _Is that cute little boy yours? My my. You really have been messing around, haven't you Hero? So pretty a wife too, such a pity that they both have to die to serve my plans."_

" _That is not happening, Ghirahim. I may not know who you really are or where you come from, but you seem to know some about me. So you should know that I mean what I say, I can tell that you are powerful but I have defeated others that were more powerful than you and for far less important causes."_

 _Father's sword started glowing again._

" _It's Lord Ghirahim, and y_ _es, I'm sure that you'd fight me to the very end to defend your little out of time mate and child, but I don't really need to defeat you to be rid of you. There's a spell that lets you remain here and all I need to do is break it to banish you, then I can kill that woman and boy easily."_

 _Mother's eyes widened in fear as he mentioned the spell, and then I could hear Father's voice speak very softly to her as Ghirahim continued talking._

" _Can you move, Dear?"_

" _Tell me what you need of me."_

 _Mother responded in so low a voice that I could barely hear her despite being right next to her._

" _Destroy or banish that black void. Both he and those creatures came from it, so once it is gone he should also vanish. I will distract him so that you can have the time you need."_

" _Be careful."_

 _Father rushed Ghirahim, swinging his sword in a short arc that Ghirahim tried to block with an gloved arm that was suddenly black instead of white. There was a ring of metal striking metal that ended in Ghirahim stumbled slightly to the side, leaving himself open to the next slash from Father. He gasped and vanish in a faint shimmer of red and black squares, only to reappear to Father's right where he fired some small red things from._

 _Mother was upright the instant that Father sprang to fight Ghirahim, hands outstretched towards the black void in the sky as she started speaking her spell. Her body emitted a soft blue light that appeared around the void as well, and the air thrummed before her as her clothes and hair started moving in a breeze I could not feel._

" _I think not, Shrine Maid."_

 _Ghirahim growled while launching some of those red things at Father again before spinning and shooting some more of them at her. Mother kept her eyes on the void, but stepped fully between me and Ghirahim so that I was completely shielded from those red things._

 _Father leaped, then rolled to get in front of Mother in time to hit most of them away with his sword, taking the others himself without so much as a grunt. Ghirahim relentlessly fired more red things at them while slowly walking closer, round after quickly speeding up round of red things flew until Father grunted in pain as one hit his sword arm right at the wrist. Ghirahim suddenly appeared directly in front of Father with an ugly smile all over his face._

" _I win, Hero."_

 _Father dropped his sword and slammed his brightly glowing golden left hand onto Ghirahim's chest, just as Ghirahim flashed a dully glowing red hand up to Father's face. Mother finished her spell at the exact same time and there was a blinding flash of mixed gold, red, and blue lights along with cries of pain from both Father and the strange man. The lights went out and the black void was gone, but Mother and I were the only ones still in the clearing._

 _Mother looked around the now very dark clearing in front of our house and her body started trembling. She started out whispering Father's name, but then gave ragged screams into the surrounding dark as no answer came back to greet her._

" _L-link? Where are you? Link? Link?! Answer me! Link!? Link!?"_

 _There was a horrible high-pitched ringing sound and then that man Ghirahim appeared, his form was flickering and every couple seconds faded till it was see through. He gave that ugly smile to Mother, but even I could see the deep pain he was in._

" _He won't be coming back to save you or that boy, Shrine Maid. The time he spent away from his own weakened him, and his connection with that holy power was almost gone. Now, I'm a man of pure honor. So I'll kill the boy as quickly and painlessly as possible...if you don't resist me."_

 _Father's sword flashed up into her right hand and a light blue magic shield materialized around me._

" _Touch my son and you die Monster."_

" _If that's how you want, fine. I only have a few more seconds left here, but that's plenty of time to finish off you and your little one."_

 _He fired the red things again, but there were far fewer of them then before and Mother created a small blue shield with two fingers from her right hand that easily blocked them. As they deflected away, he suddenly appeared in front of her and lashed out with a now black hand. It shattered her small shield, causing her to reel backward and leave herself open for a second._

 _He pointed a finger and with a single word, what looked like red lighting shot at her. Mother screamed in pain while falling to her knees, the shield around me falling with her. He turned to me, arm still black and with that horrible smile on his face again._

" _Don't move and it will be over in an instant, child."_

 _He slashed at me with his black hand, but was suddenly surrounded by a light blue shield. Both of us looked at Mother but she didn't say anything, the harsh coldness of her blue eyes saying more than words ever could. She glared at Ghirahim with a deadly fury that froze us both and even though she was still crackling with the spell he cast upon her, she staggered to her feet._

 _She brought both hands in front of herself so that they were pointing at Ghirahim then flung them wide, filling the shield with a blinding white-hot light that had Ghirahim screaming in raw pain. The blue shield and white light vanished, along with any traces of Ghirahim and his spell on Mother._

 _She crashed to her knees and weakly gestured at me to come to her, and I willingly threw myself into her arms. She wasn't crying, but her body was trembling with violent spasms and her breathing sounded horribly ragged._ _We sat there for a long time in the dark, listening to the soft sounds of the deep forest around us. And while her spasms quelled to just the occasional tremor after a time, her breathing never seemed to get much better..._

Eyes flew open and while sitting up, he looked around. He was inside of a house that was dimly lit by a dying fire.

* _I'm in Raven's house.*_

He flopped back down on the bed he was laying in and ran a hand up his face, pushing his hair away from his eyes as he stared at the ceiling.

* _That felt a bit too real to be just a dream and I've never had it before, so it might have been a memory wrapped in a dream. That must of been how Father died, I had a feeling that he must have because why else would I have been using his armor if he was still alive.*_

He covered his eyes with his forearm.

* _I did not think that it would have been this painful to remember though...I must have been about ten, so it was quite a while ago.*_

He lifted his arm off his face to stare up at the ceiling again for a few seconds, then forced himself to get up.

* _I will not go back to sleep tonight, so I might as well start the day.*_

He made himself a breakfast of eggs, goat cheese, and two slices of carefully toasted bread. He put these together into a sandwich, made a cup of tea to go along with it, and took them out onto his front step to eat as he watched the pale late summer sunrise.

 **-X-**

"So that's about it, any questions?"

Link stared at Fado incredulously as both neared the Goat's Field.

"That is all?"

"Yep! Change the hay in the barn for the animals when it gets dirty, muck 'em out once a day, check the water trough at around noon, and make sure that they don't escape."

"That- that sounds easy though, I was lead to believe that it was going to be difficult."

"Well, it can be some days, but most of the time it's not really. It's just time consuming."

They reached the sturdy looking gate that opened into a large grassy field, with a few of the lumbering goats were visible. A soft and warm breeze blew by as Fado unlocked the gate, promising a hot day was in store for the two.

"Now there is one thing I need to warn you about."

Link looked at Fado expectantly as the man entered the field.

"Well see, we have a horse that was a gift from a friend of the village whose name is Epona. But she's not real friendly sometimes, and I think you may have scared her when you fell into the field the night we found you because she was whinnying up a storm then; which is how we found you to begin with."

"I see, hopefully I can make it up to her."

There was a sudden thunder of hooves, and a large rust red horse came galloping over to the gate. She stopped a pace or so away from the gate so that they could enter, and Link calmly walked in.

"Hello, Epona. I am sorry if I-"

She immediately walked over to him and nuzzled her huge head forcefully against his. He brought up both hands and gently rubbed them against her cheeks, turning his head slightly so that she wouldn't give him a black eye with her hard face.

"Well, I'll be. I've never seen her act like this before, not even with Ilia; and that girl adores this horse...How?"

"I do not know, Fado. Hey girl, I am happy to see you as well."

 **-X-**

The rest of that day passed uneventfully, with all the chores getting done very quickly because there were two men working on it. Epona stayed by Link's side all day, not even leaving it to get water so Link had to make multiple trips over to the water trough during the course of the day. When they were leaving that evening, she stood by the gate and whinnied so loudly and insistently that there was nothing for it but for Link to take her along with him.

The other villagers bogged him down with questions as to what he had done to Epona, and Rusl had a strangely thoughtful look on his face or in his eyes all evening. However, every time Link approached the topic or went to ask about it directly, Rusl would bring something else up and divert his attention.

At the end of the day he took the biggest bowl he could find in his house and filled it with water to leave outside his house for Epona, who had elected to bed herself down by the left side of his house. He was a bit worried about leaving her there all night, but when he voiced his thoughts to her; she just looked at him with such an affection that all he could do was shake his head with a smile.

 **-X-**

After a week of being on the job, Link insisted that Fado take his first ever day off from goat herding. Fado had tried protesting, but it didn't really take that much to convince him to do it and Link now sat alone in the field in the shade of the barn.

It was a very hot day and after mucking out the stifling barn he took his shirt off to wring it out, wincing slightly at the amount of liquid that fell from it. He had hung it on the fence next to the barn in the sun so that it would dry quickly, and was now sitting against one of the barn's walls half asleep from the heat.

Epona grazed nearby, her steady munching coupled with the steady sounds from the goats had him slowly slipping deeper to sleep.

"Hey, Link!"

Eyes opened sleepily, and he turned his head to see Ilia approaching the gate with a large canteen in one of her hands.

"It's so hot today that I thought that I'd bring up some water for us to share while I check on that goat."

He nodded and rubbed a hand across his eyes.

"Water sounds good, thank you."

He heard her unlock the gate and walk in before securing it behind herself, then take a few steps before hesitating. He stopped trying to force the sleep from his eyes and looked at her, to find that she was just staring at him wordlessly. He sat up more to ask her what was wrong and suddenly remembered his shirt, or lack thereof.

He was on his feet in a flash, eyes wide as he felt his cheeks warm at her continuous stare.

"I am so sorry, I did not mean-"

He cast about for his shirt as she started laughing and he had it on an instant later. She forced her laughter to die down and spoke around her final giggles.

"It's fine Link. Really, I didn't mind."

She walked over and sat down next to where he had been and after not being able to look at her for another minute or so, he sat down as well.

"Water? You look a little red-faced."

Ilia said teasingly as she held out the canteen to him, he ducked his head slightly at her words so that his hair hid some of his face from her and took the proffered water.

"Oh, I'm just teasing you, stop acting so embarrassed. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

"Please don't, I get enough questions about things as it is."

"Well maybe I'll tell Uli, she likes hearing about the funny things you do."

"Please no. She will tell Rusl, and it will be no better than if the whole village knew."

He took another sip, and he could feel her eyes watching him.

"Why do you talk like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're so...formal. Like that night I met you and we were talking about my father, you were speaking so elegantly that it was very surprising and a bit weird."

He cocked his head to the side, mulling over her words carefully before answering.

"I have noticed that the people of this village speak differently than I do, but I remember my parents speaking this way so I believe that is why I do as well. I was also quite nervous that night because I was meeting you, and while I was sure that I would get along with you, I was not so sure that you would like me. So I tried to be as courteous as I could, as to give you a good first impression of me."

"Oh!...Well, it worked."

He looked at her curiously because of her hesitation and soft tone.

"You don't have to be like that all the time, you know."

"I know."

"Why were you worried that I wouldn't like you? Were they bad mouthing me?"

"No! It is just that you were the last one living here that I had yet to meet, and while I got along well with everyone else...I was worried that you...actually I am not really sure why I was worried, I just know that I had the feeling to try and make a good impression on you."

She smiled at him and after studying her face, he smiled back.

"Nobody cares about how you talk, as long as you do talk to us. And you know, not speak rudely or anything like that. You're not in any danger of that though, Silly; so don't worry."

Silence fell between them as Link handed the canteen back to Ilia and she took a long drink.

"So...what do you remember about your parents?"

"My father was a Knight and my mother was a Shrine Maiden, however I don't really know what those things mean."

"Are they still alive? Because if they are then we could help you find them, and I bet that they could give you some answers."

"My father is not, and...I am not sure about my mother. I have not remembered her dying, but I get an unpleasant feeling when I try, so I have not been able remember to be sure."

"Cannot, or choose not? It could be important for you to remember what happened to her. She may be looking for you, or be worried but unable to look for you."

"I have tried, but nothing helps. I just cannot remember what happened to her."

She looked at him for a couple of seconds, then gently rested a hand on his knee.

"I'm sure you will soon, don't worry."

He nodded without saying anything, after a minute she removed her hand and briskly handed him the canteen.

"So Colin heard that you like fishing, and he may or may not have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? Do you know what it is?"

"Nope."

She said much too quickly, suddenly finding a small passing cloud to be very fascinating.

 **-X-**

 _...He was on a black plain, unbroken darkness above and below him in all directions. Suddenly came a strangely familiar happy/angry laughter that came from nowhere and echoed around him. Hot fire sprang up in swirling patterns as far as his eyes could see, and he heard the sounds of things slinking through grass on all sides of him._

 _Voices slowly started wailing from everywhere: men, women, and children of all ages crying out in fear, pain, and horror. He turned wildly, eyes searching for them so that he could do something to help them, when he turned to see a tall dark figure standing right behind him. He stumbled backward and the person vanished, but the mocking laughter grew louder._

 _Faces were now flickering into and out of the firelight, some he recognized: the villagers of Ordon and small children with leaf colored hair. But most were unknown to him: hard brown faces with black eyes, strangely smooth and blue faces, and countless other normal shades of skin all danced into and out of his sight. They were afraid, they were in pain, they were crying, and all were begging for his help._

 _He looked above the faces and walked through the blazing heat of the flames, towards a strange beckoning blue. A small dark and light blue figure stood between two much taller glittering gold ones, all three silently posing the same question to him. He reach for them with his left hand and just as his fingers should have touched them, they vanished leaving only a small golden glowing symbol on the back his hand._

 _As he pulled his hand back to look at it, all the noise suddenly cease; all the cries, the mocking laughter, even the fire's roar. He lifted his eyes from his hand to find all the fire slowly drawing itself into one point, creating a huge shimmering head. The glint of the fire in its evil eyes challenged him from a position of ultimate power and he stepped back from this force, terrified from the awesome might that he faced._

 _"Run Link!"_

 _A painfully familiar woman's voice shrieked out from the darkness before him. He knew that he could not beat the foe before him, not as he was now. So he flashed the back of his left hand towards that face, emitting a flash of pure golden light then he turned and ran into the darkness..._

Eyes snapped open and he gasped, cold sweat trickling down his entire body as he heard the echos of that woman's scream fade back into the darkness of the sleeping world. He lifted his left hand and stared at the triangle birthmark on the back of it, before letting it thud down onto his forehead.

"It is always the same dream, why does it haunt me every night?"

* * *

 **A big Thank You to everyone who has read and reviewed the last chapter!**

FCL : **Hi, buddy! Your hope and enthusiasm for what will happen is so wonderful that it makes me grin ear-to-ear every time I read your review, and thanks for your praise of the goat capture bit as that was hard to write. I wrote it like three times before I was satisfied with it, and Link being complimented by the women was so fun to write because it's so true! I love writing about his interactions with the villagers because there's so much that can be done with them, especially his relationship with Uli and Ilia. Yes, in the game Sera named her cat Link, it's a bit weird I think, but I always though that she liked Link a bit too much...Do you not like ilia, why? I thought that it was really funny that you thought that he was a bit too over the top because I had this bit with Ilia talking about the same thing already planned!**

 **Hope you liked this chapter, because of *wink wink* ;P**

Theotaku3 : **The mystery is solved! That's how I do it when I have to, glad you had this story to think about while laying there surrounded by chocolate wrappers. Let me know what you think of the new developments in this story and in your internet issues, because then I know that I'm not the only one suffering! XD**

Leave a review and I'll thank you too!

 **Best wishes till next time!**


	5. 5 Faron Woods and Mother

**Hi everyone!**

 **This chapter is 11,111 words! XD Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed it!**

 **So I had this chapter all planned out and then when I actually sat down and started writing it, it turned into a beast of a chapter that was _WAY_ longer than I thought it would be! Hopefully you all like it though!**

 **Enjoy!**

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

 ** _I don't own Legend of Zelda or the pic, but I try to honor them in my own way._**

 **-X- time skip**

 _*Thoughts*_

 _...Memories/dreams..._

* * *

"This is the grass Epona likes and this is Hawk grass, right Link?"

Colin asked, directing Link's attention away from the blue sky and down to the pieces of grass in the boy's hands.

"Yes, that is Hawk Grass. Do you want to try playing the song? I can provide the perch for the hawk when it comes if you do not want to be the perch yourself."

"No, I just wanted to check that this was the right grass. Thanks Link."

"Any time."

Link said, ruffling Colin's blond hair.

"You know...Epona really seems to like you...and sometimes it seems like when you talk to her she understands what you say like a person would."

"She is a very smart animal, so perhaps she does."

"Really?"

Link shrugged in response and Colin opened his mouth to ask something else, but Uli spoke up from where she was sitting on their front porch a few paces away.

"Colin, can you go get a bar of soap for me from Sera?"

Colin nodded and ran off down the path. Link watched him for a few seconds before looking back up at the sky, leaning wearily on the sign post behind him.

"You look tired."

Uli said to him, pausing in her mending of an old baby outfit.

"I am fine. Rounding up the goats was a bit harder than it normally is, but Fado said that he would watch them for the rest of the day."

"That's not it. It's been a long week for everyone because of the pumpkin harvest, but you've looked like something had really been troubling you the past few days."

"It is nothing, I am just tired. Much less so than you are though, I imagine. I saw Rusl this morning before he left and he said that it will not be much longer until your baby is born."

"I think it will still be awhile yet, but we'll see. Don't try distracting me though, what's wrong?"

Link sighed, looking down and plucking at a blade of grass by his foot.

"...I have been having nightmares and the same strange dream every night."

"What are they about, these dreams and nightmares?"

Uli asked with a gently concerned look on her face as she watched him.

"Things that I do not understand or things that I feel I should remember, but cannot."

"I'm sorry dear. Do you want to try to tell me about them?"

"Well, I-"

"Link!"

Beth called from just around the corner down by the stream.

"Talo snuck into your house and took that Slingshot you bought for us all to share, and now he won't let anyone else have a turn with it until you show him some stupid trick you did yesterday or whatever."

"Alright, Beth. I will right there."

He turned back to Uli.

"I do not quite know what good it would do to tell you about them as I do not really think you can help, but I thank you anyway Uli."

She smiled at him.

"It's your choice, of course. But should you change your mind, I'll gladly try an' help you in any way I can dear."

"Linnnk!"

"You better go solve and whatever the problem is they are having. They're quite dependent on you now, you know."

Link smiled, nodding a farewell to Uli before standing and walking down to where Beth and Colin stood on the path. Beth tried her best to explain the situation to him as they walked to Raven's house, but only succeeded in confusing him more.

They arrived and could see Talo trying to shoot the slingshot in his hands at a stuffed dummy Link and Rusl had set up for sword practice. He wasn't pulling it tight enough and the seed pinged harmlessly off the dummy's chest. Beth marched into the clearing in front of the house and placing her hands on her hips, leaning towards the boy who had just spotted the threesome.

"You're busted, Talo! I told him everything so you're in big trouble now!"

"Aww, Beth! Why'd you have go and tell other people, now I might really get in trouble...But since you're here Link, can you show me how to shoot this thing again? I must be getting something wrong because I just can't get the seeds to fly like you did."

Link walked over and took the slingshot Talo offered him.

"It looked like you were doing it correctly when I saw you just now, but I must ask Talo. Why did you sneak into my house to get this?"

Talo looked down at the ground.

"I didn't know when you would be done working and I wanted to practice with it."

"Next time please just ask me to get it for you. If you ask politely then there is no reason for me not to let you play with it."

Talo nodded and Malo came shuffling over.

"So, Link. Our father said that you have been sword training with Rusl and that he says you're really good, but are you? You've only been working at it for a few weeks, so I don't know if I really believe that you could be that good so soon."

Link opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Talo and Beth.

"Yeah! You should show us some sword fighting moves, that would be so cool!"

"Yeah! Seeing you in action might satisfy these babies enough that we might be able to do something else fun...for once."

Link looked at Colin, who twisted his hands together nervously.

"You can go ahead and show them your sword fighting Link...I'll go spend some time with Epona over there till you're done."

Link waited a few seconds until Colin looked at him, then smiled kindly.

"I am sure that she would enjoy your company."

"Why would you want to spend time with a horse when you could be watching sword fighting?"

Talo scoffed as Colin moved past him towards Epona. The other two started voicing similar thoughts, but Link interrupted them before they really had a chance to get going.

"Different people are interested in different things and Colin knows that Epona gets lonely easily, so it is quite nice of him to spend time with her. Now I will show you a few things, but you will have to wait while I get my training sword from the house."

Talo and Malo gave each other a look, then Malo shuffled over to a small pile of hay near him and pulled something out from it.

"Do you mean this?"

Link had known what the thing was the instant that it had started sliding against the straw, and was now giving Talo and Malo stern looks.

"Did you two take that from my house as well?"

He already knew the answer because he distinctly remembered leaving his wooden training sword on his table last night when he and Rusl had finished training. Talo and Malo exchanged nervous looks that completely confirmed that they had, then nodded.

"Why?"

"Father never let us look at it up close while he was making it, so we saw it on the table when we were in your house and took it to try it out as well. Sorry, Link."

"If you do this kind of thing again I _will_ tell your parents about it, _and_ voice my annoyance at you going through my things. As it is, I most sincerely hope that you will _not_ raid my house again."

"Sorry, Link."

He nodded in acknowledgement and held out his hand for the sword, which was quickly placed in it. Everything in the clearing was quiet and the four children just stared at Link, waiting to see what would happen to the two miscreants. He opened his mouth to speak and they all held their breaths.

"Now...what moves did you want to see?"

The clearing erupted in happy voices as three of the children bounced around excitedly.

"Some slashes!"

"A jump attack!"

"Oooo, how about a lunging stab?!"

"Really, Beth? A lunging stab?"

"What? I like the way he does it! Plus should you really be talking like that to me right now? Because while Link said that he wouldn't tell on you, I never said that I wouldn't."

 **-X-**

Link stuck the wooden training sword point first into the ground, then sat down heavily next to it. The children were raving about how cool his sword moves had been and not really wanting to listen to them anymore, he fell back to lay down in the cool grass around him. He closed his eyes and tuned out the hum of voices to focus on the soft sounds of Epona as she ate the hay Colin was giving her.

His tired body started relaxing as there was nothing to worry about immediately, and his exhausted mind slowly began wandering away from what was around him.

* _Uli was right, I am tired. In having the same dreams every night, you would think that I would be used to them by now. Not progressively more and more scared by them, they do not seem to be like the dreams of others in the village...So what do they mean? Why can I not-*_

"Link?"

He started slightly as Colin's voice came from right by his side, but then relaxed again.

"Yes, Colin?"

"Would you like some water? You look kinda hot and I was going to get myself some."

"Yes, thank you. You can get it from my house as there should be a bucket of water by the stove. You remember where the bowls are, correct?"

"Yes, I remember. I'll be back in a minute."

Colin walked away to climb up to Raven's house and Link started drifting back to his previous thoughts about his dreams.

* _They seem real, especially the ones of me with Father and Mother. Perhaps they are memories and not really dreams at all, maybe all those ones are real. But then...what happened to Mother? Did she-*_

"IT'S THAT MONKEY!"

"Let's get it!"

"Wait, guys!"

Link's eyes flew open and he sat up quickly to see Talo, Malo, and Beth all running off down the path that went by his house and off towards Hyrule field and deep Faron forest. Rusl had told the children many times not to go off down that path without an adult because it could be dangerous, and now they were gone. A large cloud covered the sun, darkening everything around them including the forest beyond, and he suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

Thinking quickly, he turned to Colin who had frozen on the ladder while climbing up to his house and made eye contact with him.

"Colin, go into the village and see if you can find your father. If you cannot, then go find Mayor Bo and Jaggle. Tell them that the other children have ran off farther down the path into the woods and that I am going after them, understand?"

While he had been talking, Link grabbed Epona's bridle and put it on her. He gripped the training sword in his hand, having decided that it would just waste time going to get his father's sword, and mounted Epona.

"Y-y-yes, L-link."

"Good boy, Colin. I will be back soon with the others, don't worry. Hyah!"

Epona's hooves thudded down hard on the path as Link urged her into a quick canter, leaves and twigs whipping by his face along with the continuous rush of air. The path lead to a large opening among the trees, but a quick glance around revealed no children so they plunged on. The ground rose steeply on both sides of the path and he saw Beth ahead, bent forward and gasping for air. She looked up as she heard Epona coming to a halt next to her.

"Are you alright, Beth?"

"Y-yes. I tried to stop them, but they were too fast-"

"Did they keep running down this path?"

"From I could see, yes. They-wahhh!"

Beth cried out in surprise as Link grabbed her and lifted her up to sit behind him on Epona's back. She quickly wrapped her arms around his torso as Epona sped off down the path again, Beth's fingers gripped tightly to his shirt as she pressed herself against his back. If he was not so concerned for the others, he would have slowed down because he could feel that she was scared; but that bad feeling was gnawing away at him and they could not afford to slow.

They approached the Spirit's Spring and he saw Malo sitting just outside it, so he patted Beth's arms as he pulled Epona to a stop.

"Let go, Beth."

She released him and he slid off, crouching down next to Malo.

"Are you alright, Malo?"

Malo was breathing hard and only nodded his head in response.

"Did your brother keep running down this path?"

The tiny boy nodded again and Link scooped him up, remounting Epona with Malo in front of him. Beth wrapped her arms around Link from behind and he gripped the bridle with one hand to start their movement again, securing Malo to himself with the other. They crossed through the village's perimeter gate by the Spirit's Spring and over the huge rope bridge that connected the village to the rest of the forest, causing both children to grip him tighter as this was the farthest that they had ever been from home.

They shot through the bottleneck valley of the forest's side of the bridge and entered another opening in the trees, but there was no Talo there either.

 _*He surely could not have gotten much farther than this, he did not have time.*_

There was no sign of the boy or monkey anywhere, but he did see some large fresh scuff marks on the ground and remembered Rusl showing him some just like these once: Bokoblin tracks.

They had been much deeper in the forest when Rusl and he had come across Bokoblin tracks before and his worst fears were confirmed when he caught sight of the gate that led to another Sprit Spring, the two boards nearest the ground were broken. Bokoblin were too heavy to climb things so they would go under them if they could, which meant that they had been here when Talo ran up after the monkey.

He tapped his heels against Epona's sides and she jumped the fence with both Beth and Malo squealed in fear and gripped him harder, forcibly reminding him that they were there. He pulled Epona to a halt next to the spring and relaxed the bridle so that she could get a much needed drink.

 _*I cannot take Beth and Malo with me now that I know Talo's been captured, they could be hurt and I do not even know how many Bokoblins have Talo. I will not put them in danger.*_

Mind made up, he patted Beth's arms and then Malo's so that they let go of him. Then he carefully dismounted, flipped Malo around so that he was facing forward, and then scooted Beth forward till she was right behind Malo.

"Beth, Malo, I want you two to ride back to the village on Epona while I get Talo, understand?"

"Why can't we all go get Talo?"

"Why do you want us to ride back by ourselves?!"

Beth looked on the verge of tears and Malo was shaking slightly, although he probably didn't realise it.

"Calm down. We are getting quite far from the village and I worry about taking you two any farther, so you will ride back on Epona."

"But-"

"This is not up for debate. Beth, you will hold the reins like this."

He gently guided her hands to the proper gripping position while trying hard to ignore the sobs and shaking of the two.

"Why are you going on by yourself? Rusl said that the woods are dangerous and you won't even have your horse with you."

"I will be fine."

He said, giving the children a smile.

"Talo could not have gotten much farther than this, so I will find him and we should be back to the village soon."

He walked around until he was looking into one of Epona's large brown eyes, and then he rested a hand on her nose.

"Epona, take the children home. Go home."

She snorted and turned back towards the gate, with Link opened for them to pass through.

"Linnnkkk!"

"Talo and I will be back soon, now go quietly for Epona and I will see you soon."

He turned away from their soften wails and gripping his wooden sword tightly, he ran off down the path.

The forest thinned slightly as he ran, trees giving way to high rock cliffs that guided him along ever darkening winding paths as he went ever deeper. He came to a fork in the path: the path in front of him led to the deep forest, and the path to his left led to Hyrule Field. The deep forest one had a large gate before its dark cave entrance, but it was locked. Looking down, he could tell that this was the way that the Bokoblins had went.

 _*How is it locked then? The lock is on this side, but if they had locked it after going through the lock would be on the other side.*_

He stepped back and studied the area carefully, then noticed a strange line depression in the grass leading to Hyrule Field.

 _*Someone has walked through the grass here.*_

He walked through the grass, then around a rocky curve to see a very patched up wooden house with a slightly smoking fire pit out front. He walked up to the solid front door that was set into the rickety house and raised a hand to knock, when it suddenly opened. He stepped back as he saw as a huge black puff of something wobble at him, and then he realized that it was a man's puffy black hair.

"Whoa! Where did you come from, guy? I've never seen you around here before, but you don't look like a monster so I guess that we're good. My name is Coro, guy. What's yours?"

"Link. I-"

"Well nice to meet you Link! That's a strange name, so are you from Ordon? Because if you are, I haven't heard of you before. Rusl already came by about the post, and there wasn't anything for you guys then. The mailman hasn't come yet, so nothing new."

"That's not why-"

"Oh! What'd you come here for if not that?"

"Were you the one that locked the gate leading into Faron woods?"

"Oh yeah! I saw a group of Bokoblins come swarming back into there not long ago, so I locked them in again. Better than having them run around free to terrorize people, don't you think, Link? See what I did there? Haha, th _ink_ L _ink_ , get it? That was a good-"

"I need to get through that gate, so may I have the key?"

"WHAT?! Are you crazy? Why would you want to go in there? The woods have been dangerous lately and you're not even really armed. I mean, you have a sword, but it's wood so I don't really know if that counts. And besides it don't look like you're ready to enter that cave anyway."

"I need to go because the Bokoblins took something very important and I must recover it quickly."

"Gee, I'm sorry to hear that, Link. They may be too far ahead by now for you to catch them-"

Link held out his hand towards Coro, staring him straight in the eye with a serous expression on his face.

"The key please, Coro."

Coro faltered under his intense gaze for a second, then looked down to start rummaging through his pockets.

"Alright, alright, must be pretty serious if you're this willing to go in there, so I guess that I can give you this. Just make sure that you leave it in the lock when you open the gate, OK Link?"

He handed him a small grey key and Link nodded before turning away.

"Wait, guy!"

Link turned back, trying to hide his impatience.

"That cave is really dark even during the day, and there are all sorts of dangers in there. I'm starting a small side business of selling lantern oil, so here; have a free lantern. And when it runs out of oil, just remember to stop by and I'll fill it up for you."

"Thank you, Coro."

Link took the lantern and ran back towards the gate, thinking that things had gone well in getting the key to the gate and now even a lantern, but he cursed himself for taking so long.

"Good luck, gu-I mean, Link!"

Link unlocked the gate and hurried through, pausing only to light his lantern before plunging into the darkness of the cave entrance of Faron Woods. It was so dark inside that he momentarily couldn't see anything, despite having the lantern's light. His eyes adjusted quickly and he ran on. With the darkness lit only by the flickering fire of his lantern reminding him too much of his recurring nightmare, he ran at top speed through the rest of the cave.

He ran out and onto a small rise that gave way to a huge sunken area, filled with large trees and rocks that made of lots of twisting paths between them that then vanished into the swirling mist permeating the place.

Lifting his lantern high, Link picked the path that looked most familiar and set off at a quick jog along it. Keese flew down at him from the overhead branches wreathed in mist, dive bombing him and his lantern until he would hit them away with his sword. It was hard to see with the mist, but he remembered the path that Rusl had taken him on the get to the farthest gate and soon arrived at the small rise that gate rested on.

He was about to walk up onto it when he spotted the four Bokoblins guarding it, he quickly hid behind a large tree trunk and blew out his lantern.

 _*The gate is locked and they will attack me as soon as they know I am there. I may have time to surprise one of them before the others see me if I move quickly, but that will still leave three to deal with.*_

He looked around the tree at the Bokoblins as he secured the lantern to his belt.

 _*I can handle three.*_

He crept towards them using the mist to hide till he was at the foot of the rise, then he rushed up it as quietly as he could until he was directly behind one of the Bokoblins and unleashed a barrage of powerful slashes on its unprotected back. That Bokoblin fell with a thud, and the others turned towards him with a mix of squeals and growls as the farthest one pointed at him and they rushed in.

He stabbed the first one that got within reach then focused on the second, pulling his sword out of the first body with a sickening schluck sound. The second swung its mace-like club, but the slow monster never had a chance to hit him with it as Link alternated between hacking at its exposed torso and head till it fell to the ground and stayed there.

The third Bokoblin had been trying to hit him with its club while he had been attacking the second, but he had kept it in his peripherals and had always moved just out of reach of the weapon. When the second fell, the leader-like one suddenly found itself facing him all alone, and it gave a loud screeching cry to the surrounding forest just as Link spotted the key that it wore around its neck. He charged the screeching Bokoblin and it swung its club at his side as he swung his sword at its neck.

Both weapons found their marks, the Bokoblin fell tumbling down the hill and Link whammed painfully to the ground. Link stood a few seconds later with a perpetual wince on his face, before slowly walked down the hill towards where the body now lay shrouded in mist. The key had come off its thong halfway down the hill and Link retrieved it carefully before hurrying back to unlocking the gate.

The pain in his side momentarily forgotten, he ran down the path that Rusl had told him led to a forest temple of sorts, now sure that Talo was in this direction. He almost stopped then because he saw the largest tree that he had ever seen in his life appear towering before him, the path continuing up along a huge carved out root. He stared and then raced up the root path, not caring that his steps echoed loudly against the wood until he saw what was waiting for him at the carved out hollow where the root connected to the tree.

Talo and the monkey that he had been chasing were trapped in a cage crudely made of branches and vines, and were being harassed by two Bokoblins armed with large knives. Talo was crying in fear and the monkey was just a trembling mass of fur next to him, however Talo's eyes lit up as he spotted him.

"Link! Help me!"

The two Bokoblins started turning to see what Talo was looking and yelling at, just as Link pulled out the slingshot he still had stuck in his belt and fired a seed at an eye of the farthest one from him. It howled, clutched at its struck eye as the other charged him and Link dropped down to his knees to dodge its knife swing at his head.

He fell onto his back and shot up into the Bokoblin's open mouth, then kicked the stunned monster's knife out of its hand. Rolling to the side, he grabbed the same knife and stabbed it into the bokoblin's foot before popped up and dealt it a powerful blow to the head with his sword.

"Link!"

There was a flash of metal at the edge of his vision to the right, so he threw himself left and felt pain from his right cheek as he dodged a slash aimed at his head. He slammed into the carved railing edge of the hollow and grunted in pain as he turned to face the now one eyed Bokoblin. It swung at him again and he blocked with his sword without thinking, horrible splintering sounds met his ears as the wood barely withstood the knife.

He rolled to the side, now greatly regretting his decision to not bring his father's sword and slipped on a bit of lantern oil that had came out during his first roll. An idea came to him as he scrabbled to his feet and he undid his lantern from his belt, hastily opening the oil compartment while dodging away from another slash. Wheeling around to fully face the Bokoblin, he splashed it with some of the oil from his lantern and then clapped the compartment shut.

He lunged at the monster and its knife cut his lower arm, but he managed to thrust the lantern against the Bokoblin's oil-slicked clothing just as he turned it on. The oil soaked things instantly caught fire and the Bokoblin screamed in pain while staggering away from Link. It slipped on some of the oil on the ground and fell over the carved railing, its scream fading till it was only faint echoes bouncing around in the valley beneath them.

Link pulled out the knife from the foot of the other Bokoblin, taking care to wipe it off on the monster's clothes before he cut Talo and the monkey free from the cage. Talo hugged him and Link patted his back gently while trying to catch his breath, he knew that they had to get going before any other Bokoblins showed up.

He felt a tap on his arm and looked to see that the monkey was holding something out to him, he took the small pink thing from it without really looking to see what it was and stoyed it away in a pouch. The monkey clapped its hands, then ran up the tree' trunk and vanished into its higher branches.

Link sat back slightly and unraveled the wrapping he had around his uninjured forearm, then wrapped up his other bleeding one. Talo let go of him finally and Link stood to collect the few things he had dropped during the fight, but then he spotted a strange looking pole.

It would have been about as tall as him had it not been cut at about waist height along a horizontal dark reddish-brown line, the dried droplets that had run from that line gave Link the distinct impression that this red coloring was actually blood. The pole's two parts had green and blue markings all over them and the longer he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.

A loud sniffle from Talo brought him out of him thoughts and he quickly collected the few things he had dropped along with the Bokoblin knife, then they started going back to the village. There were a couple of close calls as they went through the misty part of the forest, as some other Bokoblins had shown up and were haphazardly searching around there for the perpetrator.

This time Link forced himself to walk as they went through the entrance cave, but by the time they made it out near Coro's house he was completely unsettled and almost jumped when Talo started speaking.

"You-you won't tell my parents about this, will you? I'd get a spanking for sure if they knew that I had run off into the woods like that, especially since I took Beth and Malo with me..."

Link opened his mouth, but it was Rusl's voice that answered Talo's question.

"I'm afraid that your parents already know about it, so Link can't swear secrecy for you this time, Talo."

Talo jumped and Link looked over to see Rusl walking towards them from the direction of Coro's house.

"However, they may be too happy at seeing you to punish you tonight if you hurry on home."

Talo nodded and took off at a shambling run as both Link and Rusl walked after him at a close enough distance to keep him in sight, but at a more reasonable pace. Rusl studied first the boy, and then Link for a good while as they walked in the relative silence of sunset.

"Got a bit roughed up, did you?"

Rusl said finally, nodding to Link's right cheek which still bore the cut and dried blood from the second Bokoblin's knife. Link nodded wearily and wordlessly wiped away some sweat on his forehead with the inside part of his forearm's bandage. Rusl saw the blood there too and sighed, looking forward at Talo again.

"I'm sorry, Link. This responsibly should not have fallen to you, especially after all you've been through."

"It needed to be done and I was the closest one, do not worry about it. Although, -"

He smiled slightly as he glanced at Rusl.

"-I do wish someone that had told me about the consequences of playing with the little ones so frequently."

Rusl raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I never realized that simply playing with them would lead to becoming so fond all of them. I did not even think about getting someone else to go after them, I just made sure that Colin did not come after us and went to find them."

"Is your right shoulder hurt?"

"No, why?"

Rusl patted his shoulder and smiled at him warmly.

"That's because you have a good caring heart, Link. No second thoughts about helping others is a truly rare gift, and I hope that you carry it with you your whole life. Plus, it's comforting to know that there's another set of capable eyes out there watching the children when I and my wife are not around."

He teased as they crossed the bridge.

"So hard to find a good babysitter, huh?"

Link teased back.

"How about you come to my house and we'll treat your injuries and feed you some dinner?"

"Are you cooking, or is Uli?"

Rusl gave him a mock suspicious look.

"What does that have to do with anything, young man?"

"Well, I have to decide how much pain I want to be in tonight because faking smiles at your cooking could really hurt my cheek."

Rusl started laughing and patted his shoulder again.

"Luckily for you it's Uli's tonight, I haven't had time today."

 **-X-**

Link slowly staggered back to his house in the dark, the exhaustion he had been fighting while at Rusl's and Uli's house was now beating down the last of his barriers and he couldn't really say that he was putting up much of a fight. He tripped over a rock as he neared the ladder up to his front door and barely managed to catch himself on the post a few feet from the ladder. He felt the indentations of carvings on the post under his fingers and against his cheek so he turned his head, blearily trying to make them out. They looked familiar so he traced them with a finger, words rose from the depths of his mind and he whispered them out loud as they came.

"Goddesses of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Bless this land and protect it from the works of Evil that would seek to undo all the you have made for us. I ask that you help me know when to fight, when to simply speak, and when to act. Grant me the Power to deal with the Evil that appears before me, grant me the Wisdom to see the Lights and Darknesses for what they truly are, and grant me the Courage to walk the Path that you have laid out before me."

The post seemed to glow a faint golden color beneath his hands and there was an instant change to the air around him, a strange sort of peace. The carvings now had a green color highlighting them that had most certainly not been there before, Link slowly took his hands off the post and backed away from it to the ladder. He turned, climbed up, and entered his house to walk straight over to his bed. He almost fell onto it, but decided against that because of his heavily bruised side and just carefully collapsed on it instead.

 _...My eyes opened and the first thing that I saw was that part of my birthmark was glowing a faint gold, but that was not what had woken me. There was something heavy about the air and the shadows of my room grew steadily darker as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end._

 _I pushed the warm blankets off and then gingerly placed both feet on the cool stone floor of my bedroom as I tip-toed over to my door. The hall beyond my door looked much longer than it did during the day and as I hurried down it, the shapes of the dark seemed to stalk after me. Hairs all over my body were standing up straight as I reached my parents door, I twisted the knob with a slightly trembling hand and opened it to find Father sitting up in bed looking at me from across the room._

" _Link? What is wrong?"_

" _There is something outside, Daddy."_

 _Father was up in a flash, sword in hand he walked over to me and ruffled my hair as he strode out of the room. Father wasn't scared of the shadows or darkness because he walked right through them, Mother got up and walked over to me. She took my hand and smiled down at me even though I could see that she was starting to feel it too._

" _Come with me, let us see if we can help Daddy."..._

"Link! Link, get down here now!"

He jolted awake at the sound of Ilia's angry voice and as he sat up he could see that it was still early morning. He groaned slightly as he half-climbed, half-fell out of bed and stumbled over to his front door, pausing only to mechanically put his sandals on.

When he summoned the courage to open the door, he instantly regretted it. Ilia stood fuming a few paces away from his ladder, holding Epona's reins in one hand with the other firmly planted on her hip. She glared at him as he climbed down, and the glare only intensified as he warily walked over to stand before her.

"Good morni-"

"Why is Epona hurt?!"

He blinked.

"Epona is hurt?"

"Yes, you big Oaf! Look at her leg!"

She pointed angrily, and he trailed his eyes down her arm till they came to rest on a large cut on Epona's front left knee. Ilia's arm moved and suddenly she was a step closer, pointing at him with a finger that acutely reminded him of the Bokoblin's knife.

"You were jumping fences with her again, weren't you?! You just couldn't take the time to open the gate, no, you had to jump it! Now look at her, all scratched up and you didn't even know! You even had to gall to make her sleep up in the Goat's Field again when you knew that it was going to be loud because of the kids birthing last night!"

"The goat finally had her kids?"

"Yes! Where did you think I was most of the night, taking an easy afternoon off but not spending any of it with your best friend!?"

"What? No, Ilia, I-"

"Shut it! I don't want to hear your excuses!"

Tears glistened in her eyes and while she was still yelling at him, her face was more sad now than angry.

"To think that this stupid horse likes you more than anyone else, even with how you treat her. I don't want to hear about how busy you were doing nothing, or about how you could possibly have missed her injury. I'm going to take her to the Spirit's Spring to try and clean it off, and don't you dare follow me!"

She turned sharply and marched off towards the spring with Epona walking behind her calmly.

Link blinked and stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, wondering what in Farore's name just happened. His eyes landed on the post with its normal wood and new green coloring and he fully realized that this was not some weird dream. That realization had him speeding down the path towards the spring. He reached the spring just in time to see Ilia lock the gate and back away from it with the key in her hand.

"Ilia."

She looked at him through the gate and he could see that she was still angry at him.

"I told you that I didn't want you to follow me!"

"Please give me a chance to explain myself."

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

She said, turning and walking over to where Epona was standing in the shallows of the spring's pool. She started cleaning the cut with the pure water of the spring and Link moved forward until he was leaning against the shut gate looking in at them.

"Then don't talk, but please listen to me. I am sorry about yesterday, as soon as I got off work I went fishing with Colin. I promised that I would try out that fishing rod he made me, but between the Pumpkin harvest, goat herding, and helping Uli, I just have not had the time for it until yesterday afternoon."

"Maybe you shouldn't say that you'll do something that you can't fully commit to."

"I know and I am sorry, but let me finish please. After that I agreed to spend some time with the other children because I knew that there was still time left in the day to see you and there was no rush. However, the monkey that has been robbing Sera's store showed up and Talo, Malo, and Beth decided to try and catch it, and since the Bridge's gate was open they ran off into the woods after it. Colin and I were the only ones who knew what had happened, so I sent him to the village while I rode Epona into the woods after them. I found Beth and Malo fairly quickly, but there had been some Bokoblins roaming about outside deep Faron Woods and they captured Talo. Yes, I jumped a fence while we were riding Epona but when I sent Beth and Malo back with her, I did not know that she had been hurt. I did not think to check her because I was worried about Talo, and she never gave any indication that she was hurt."

"So you went into Faron Woods to get Talo all alone?"

She had finished washing Epona's cut and was staring at him, green eyes going wide as he nodded.

"The Bokoblins had taken him a far distance into the woods, and it was only because Rusl had taken me out there before that I was able to track him down before they killed him."

She gasped, a hand flying to her mouth as his words meaning fully hit her. Tears threatened to fall again, and he hastily stuck an arm through the gate in an attempt to stave them off.

"He is fine though, so do not worry about him!"

"Is that why you have a cut on your arm and face? Because you had to fight them?"

He winced slightly at the tremor in her voice, and as he realized that the arm he had thrust in was the one that had been injured in his fight with the Bokoblin. He slowly pulled it back out and looked away from her.

"Talo and I met Rusl on our way back to the village and I had dinner with his family. I was so tired that I forgot to ask about where Epona was and I barely made it home from their house before falling asleep...I understand that this is no excuse for not-"

"I'm sorry, Link. I didn't hear about this incident with the children because I was in the Goat's Field tending to the birth, and I was so tired that I fell asleep up there. Epona woke me up as soon as light appeared in the sky because she wanting to go to you, that's when I saw her leg..and well."

He looked back at her and gave her a slight smile.

"I understand, Ilia. You told me that you care very much for her and I would have been mad at me too under the same circumstances."

"That's sweet of you to say, but we both know that that isn't true. You would never lose your top at someone like that, I don't think I've ever seen you get mad at anything. I know that my father says that I'm too protective of the animals sometimes, and he's right...I'm sorry, I'll let you in now if you want."

"No need."

Link said while quickly climbing up and over the gate with Ilia laughed at him softly from where she sat by the water.

"Showoff."

"If you say so."

He countered as he came to sit next to her.

"So did you ever find that monkey?"

"Yes, she had been captured along with Talo because she tried defending him from the Bokoblins. So I freed her along with him."

"You're her hero now, I'm sure."

"I do not think so, although she did give me something before running off after I set her free."

"Really? What was it?"

"I don't know, but I think that I have it here in my pouch still."

"You slept with your belt and pouches on?!"

"...Perhaps."

Link said as he pulled out the slightly smushed pink thing and they both looked at it.

"Aww, I told you that you were her hero! She even gave you a flower, _see-_...Link? Are you alright?"

Link stiffened slightly as he stared at the large pink flower in his hand, he recognized this kind of flower. They were his mother's favorite kind and they only grew very deep in the forest.

 _..."Goddesses of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Bless this land and protect it from the works of Evil that.." He tuned out the prayer that his parents always said to replenish a spiritual post and turned his attention to exploring the immediate area._

 _He was immediately rewarded by a small glimpse of pink sticking out around a large tree and he hurried over to pick a few of the large flowers. He turned back to his parents just in time for the ending of the prayer and as they took their hands off the slightly glowing blue and green pole, he ran over and held out the flowers to his mother._

" _Aww, thank you sweetie! I see that you found my favorite kind again, how do you always manage to spot them? I can never find them when I go looking for them."_

 _She ruffled his hair gently as she took the flowers from him._

He could faintly hear Ilia saying his name, but the memories had too strong a grip on him now for him to answer her.

 _...He struggled up the hill trying to be careful not to drop her, but knowing that he needed to reach the top in the next few seconds or he would have to stop and rest. With one last burst of energy he stumbled onto the relatively flat hilltop, and then practically crashed to his knees as he let his mother climb down off his back. As soon as she was off him, he fell forward until his hands were pressed against the ground and he took deep breaths as he felt sweat run and drip along his face._

" _Are you alright, Link?"_

 _He nodded, not moving from his position._

" _I just- need a second- and then- and then I will be fine."_

" _I am so sorry that you have to do this for me, Link. Perhaps next time I should just try-"_

 _He pushed himself up into a kneeling position so that he was able to look at her, and shook his head._

" _No, I will not- let you try and climb up these hills like you did- when I was too little to carry you. You always sounded like you were dying with the way you had to gasp for air- and I knew how hard it was for you based solely on how many breaks you had to take then. So no, I will carry you. I am not a little child anymore and I can handle these hills; you cannot."_

 _He took a deep steadying breath and she smiled at him, pride shining in her eyes._

 _"I have my breath back now, so let us deal with this post and then we can move on to the next one."..._

He started shaking, and the hand he felt rest on his arm did nothing to help calm him.

 _...A little blue fairy had come, it flew through the open door and over to Mother very quickly. Most blue fairies lived with the Kokiri deep within the oldest section of the forest, so Mother looked surprised and worried at the appearance of this one. Link waited patiently while it conversed with her, but when she gasped at something it told her, he quickly moved to squat beside her chair._

" _What? What has happened?"_

" _Something is happening to the Great Deku Tree and he asks for our aid."_

 _She turned her head and regarded him silently as he blinked at the news. He stood and nodded to her before turning to walk past where she sat._

" _I- I shall gather our required things and then we-"_

" _I am not going."_

 _He halted in shock, then turned to look at his Mother's determined face and sorrowful eyes._

" _You know that I cannot walk for any large part of the way and from what the fairy has told me, I do not want you tired out from carrying me when you face this challenge."_

 _He took a step closer, trying to hide his dismay at her words._

" _He asked for both of our help, and I-"_

" _Link."_

 _She held up a hand to silence him._

" _He asks for our help, however I believe that you would serve him better if you were not burdened with my care."_

 _He knelt by her chair and placed a hand on the armrest._

" _Caring for you is never a burden, Mother."_

 _She smiled softly at him, but the pain and sorrow in her eyes increased as she lifted a hand to gently smoothed his hair away from his face._

" _My little boy...they need a Knight, not a infirm Shrine Maiden."_

" _If it is your wish that I go by myself, Mother. Then I will."_

" _That is my wish. Take your father's sword and armor with you, for I fear that you will need them before your task is over."_

 _He blinked in surprise at this but nodded, then kissed his Mother's cheek before standing and walking to the door that led to where they stored his Father's things._

" _I love you, my son."_

 _He paused in the doorway and looking back at her with a smile._

" _I love you too, Mother."..._

The pain of their parting at the doorway of the house rushed over him as well, and he clenched his jaw tightly in an attempt to hide his feelings from Ilia.

 _He left mother at the house and when to help the Great Deku Tree, he had never been this far in the forest before. It felt...comforting; like when he was a child and laying in his mother's arms. The Kokiri he learned were like children: slightly scared or suspicious of this new face, but as soon as they saw the blue fairy and learned why he was there, they rushed him to Great Tree. At first glance it looked like there was nothing wrong with it, but then he saw the faint shimmering of the enemy._

 _The Great Deku Tree was under siege from large, mostly invisible insects that spat some kind of wood melting liquid, and it took him hours to kill them all. It had not been enough though because the Great Tree still died. He had broken the curse on it and had the tree's gratitude, but that did not take away his feelings of shame at having failed._

 _The Tree told him that there had been an attempt on its life ten years ago but that his father and mother had managed to break that spell, so the Tree had been planning on this second attack. That's why it gave him the Spiritual stone, to keep it safe from the desert man that killed for it._

 _As he was about to ask permission from the Kokiri's leader to stay with with them for the night because he was tired, a girl Kokiri with short green hair and slightly sad blue eyes that he had not seen before approached him._

" _Hello, Link. I don't think that it would be wise to stay here, your Mother needs you."_

" _What do you mean?"_

 _He had demanded._

" _Hurry home, Link."_

 _Had been her only answer and he had taken her advice, running through the rapidly darkening forest back towards home..._

Tears welled up in his eyes and he had to blink to see the flower clearly again.

 _He hadn't quite made it all the way back yet, but he could see flashes of different colored lights from his mother's spells and that caused him to run even faster. He burst out of the treeline and beheld a nightmarish sight: his mother fighting four of those black and red monsters that had been here the night his father was killed._ _He exploded into the clearing behind one of the monsters and got about two slashes across its back before all the monsters somehow knew he was there._

 _One turned to join the one that he had first attacked and he dodged under one of their huge arm sweeps, only to be hit by one from the other. He fell at the heavy blow, but managed to catch himself just before hitting the ground and got a good slash across his arm instead. He tried biting back the cry of pain but as he received another slash, on his thigh a strangled cry escaped._

" _Link!"_

 _His mother gasped, her voice hoarse and wheezing at her lack of air and she cast a spell the caused a light blue pulse across the monsters. All their next arm swings deflected as if they had struck a wall before the pulse vanished, giving Link the opportunity to stagger back onto his feet and flick some sweat from his eyes. He saw a faint golden light come from his left hand and without thinking he swung out at the monster before him; as his sword hit it there was a flash of gold and the monster fell._

 _Instantly all three of the others turned to him and attacked him with a speed he didn't know that they possessed. One hit his sword as he slashed at it, one hit his exposed side and knocked the wind from him, and the last blow clipped his head so that he lost consciousness when he hit the ground._

 _The blackness hurt like a blacksmith pounding away at his head and he was about to let himself fall deeper to try to escape when a golden flash pulsed through the darkness and he could hear his name._

" _Link! Link, awake up! Link!"_

 _He opened his eyes to see a blue shield of his mother's above him shatter beneath a blow from one of the red and black monster, only to reform an instant before the arm could make it to him. He winced as he turned his head and saw her kneeling next to him, trembling arms outstretched to help maintain her shield. She was bleeding from several large gashes all over her body and her breathing was raw choking gasps, she looked at him when he moved his head._

" _When I..create an..opening for you...I want you..to run off..into the forest.."_

" _What!? I cannot just leav-"_

" _They will..attack the..Kokiri next..now that..the Deku Tree...can no..longer..protect them...the forest..needs Knight..save them..like your..father did."_

" _Mother, I am not like-"_

" _You are."_

 _She said, gently squeezing his left hand before moving to stand. He stood as well, helping her up as the blue shield around them warped to accommodate their movements and the rain of blows that the monsters threw upon it. He stared at her strong face._

" _If I leave now though, you will be killed by them."_

 _She nodded, turning her head to give him a smile._

" _But you..will not be."_

 _He blinked back sudden tears and she released his hand. She put her hands on his shoulders and turning him slightly to face out directly towards one of the monsters._

" _Save them..tell Hyrule..what has happened..close your eyes."_

 _He did. There was a bright flash of light accompanied by vibrating screams of pain from the monsters and when the light vanished, he opened his eyes again. The monsters had all staggered back and the way to the forest was clear._

" _Go!"_

 _His mother's voice commanded and he sprinted towards the treeline, he could hear the monsters start moving purposefully again. There were two bright flashes of light behind him, then a weak cry of pain from his mother that had him turning back around._

" _Run Link!"_

 _Her voice shrieked out from behind him filled with raw pain, desperation, and fear. He faltered at the sound of it, but then continued his flight into the forest and although he strained his ears for something else; he didn't hear anything else from her..._

"I remember."

"Remember what, Link?"

He blinked and felt a tear run down his face.

"What happened to my mother."

"And?"

Ilia pried gently as Link felt Epona nuzzle the top of his head.

"She was killed and I could not save her. I tried, but then she told me to run away and save myself."

"Oh, Link I'm sorry-"

"She must have known that the monsters were going to come, that is why she sent me by myself to try and help the Great Deku Tree. She knew that it was going to die and she did not want the monsters to know where the Kokiri lived."

"What? You're not making any sense Link...tell me about it? Please? I won't tell anyone about it if you don't want me to."

 **-X-**

"So you're a Knight of the Hylian order? That explains a lot actually, but I have two questions."

He cocked his head slightly.

"Aren't you a little young to be a Knight? I lived in Hyrule when I was much younger and I remember all the people in armor looking old. You know, like Rusl's age; not any young ones like you."

"I think that Father and Mother just trained me to be one, but I do not think that I am officially a member of the Order."

"That makes sense I guess, and now question number two: the drawing skills. What good is being able to draw well to a warrior? I can understand how most of the other things you do well would be able to help you, but drawing?"

"It teaches the drawer patience, better coordination, and it helps train you to look for the details of whatever it is you are looking at."

"So you can spot weaknesses?"

"I guess, or perhaps it is so that you always look a little bit deeper and think about whatever it is."

They heard a loud rustling in the grass on the far side of the pool and looked just in time to see Colin appear there.

"Colin? What are you doing?"

"How did you even get in there?"

"There's a small tunnel here, so I just crawled thru it till I got here. I'm hiding from Talo and Malo because they're really mad at me for telling their parents they ran off, and when I heard your voices I decided that I wanted to be here with you two...I can leave if you want."

"No, no! Stay, that's fine. Link and I were only talking."

"What else would you be doing?"

Colin asked with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Well..."

"How about we play a game in the spring?"

Link said, getting up and walking into the water until it was up to his knees before turning to face them.

"Like what?"

Ilia asked before getting doused with a splash from Link.

"Oh! How dare you!"

She cried with mock indigence at him before running around Epona and into the pool several paces away.

"I will get you back for that, just you wait Link!"

She yelled at him as he was in the process of splashing Colin, who squealed with laughter and then tried splashing Link back. Link turned away from the splash and moved out to about his waist before unleashing two splashes at the both of them.

A furious splash war ensued with both Colin and Ilia teaming up against Link and all of them getting completely soaked within the first minute of play. With both working together enthusiastically, Link let himself get backed into a small corner of the pool and sunk lower in the water as they fired quick splashes at him. After a few minutes of this he tried lunging out in the space between them, but much to his surprise Ilia tackled him and then attempted to hold him in place with her much smaller frame.

"Get him, Colin! While I've got him pinned down!"

Colin had long since lost his ability to speak because of his laughter, but he eagerly waded forward and began dowsing Link directly in the face with arm-full after arm-full of water.

"Do you surrender?!"

Ilia yelled above the splashes, and Link tried one last half-hearted attempt at escaping before yelling a loud.

"I give!"

It took him several tries to get it out though because water from Colin's splashes kept filling his mouth whenever he opened it to speak. Colin stopped the splashing as Ilia released Link, laughing triumphantly with Colin.

There was a loud rumbling sound from the path and they all turned to look just as the gate exploded open with the force of two huge boars that came thundering in. Several things happened at once: Epona reared in fright and took off with a spray of water, Ilia and Colin screamed then both ran in opposite directions, and Link saw that the green things riding the boars had bows.

He grabbed a fist sized rock and hurled it at the one that had an arrow trained on Colin, making it miss Colin just as Ilia screamed in pain. Link spun to see what had happened to her, then felt heavy pain against the back of his head and saw white light fill his closed eyes before all faded to black.

* * *

 **A big Thank You to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!**

 **Please feel free to call me "Scarlet" in your reviews if you want to, I certainly don't mind!**

FCL : ***grinning like a fool while blushing* Yes, Hero of Time, and I'm winking to indicate that. You are correct in that there has been no elements of SS except for Ghirahim so far, but I did put in the description of the story that there would be a little bit of SS. Mostly in that I want a few of the characters from that game in there, so I put them in because I can. :) The memories were are our main character's, and as for Raven...who knows? xD Thanks for pointing out my little oops there, but besides that one word the sentence is correct. Thanks for your vote of confidence in my writing ability, I'm dyslexic but love writing and creating worlds, so your words mean a lot to me. :) As for the cat's name, there's a time when you talk to Sera in the very beginning of the game and she says that her cat's name is Link. I always found that to be a little bit...weird. I remember when I first played the game that I was a little bit sad that they never really did anything with Ilia's character after she recovers her memory, and I don't know if you guys can tell but I really love Uli and wished that they had done a bit more with her in the game. Ghirahim just ruins everything, cute or otherwise! He may even try to ruin my story if I give him half a chance, but he wants to see where it's going before he tries anything. ;) Yes it was, and I have no idea how long this story will turn out to be! We will have to wait and see. ;)**

Tai-ke-ai : **Yes, you can all call me "Scarlet" if you want to, I love that name. ;) YES, please watch Ghirahim! You have no idea how annoying and dangerous he is, plus another set of eyes watching him could be quite helpful. *nodding sagely* I always HATED that supposedly the fairies die in healing you in the games, so I always told myself that they just went back to the great fairies fountains to rest after they heal you. *whips out a fan and flutters it in front of face* I, I don't know what you're talking about, but perhaps Raven is Link's father... Thanks, I have trouble sometimes in making sure that Link is speaking the way I want him to, but he is slowly getting a bit of the Ordonian way of speaking the longer he lives with them. I don't normally like dream sequences either, but I thought that it seemed fitting because OoT link had nightmares as Evil was about to strike...**

Leave a review and I'll thank you too!

 **Best wishes till next time!**


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